A Really Loaded Series
by Khait Khepri
Summary: Sequel to "A Seriously Messed Up Series". Welcome back the crew, this time in Reload. Ana, still in the realm of Saiyuki, now has to work with Sanzo on the meaning of 'relationship'. Rated same as SY for same reasons. Permanent Hiatus. SanzoOC
1. Intro & Prologue

Hello again! Long time no see, and thanks to all the reviews from the previous story. You guys make my world go round, I tell you.

Unfortunately, this story will be far slower on updating than the last. I have no rhythm anymore and that is rather upsetting, so instead of giving you half-assed stuff, I'll give you my best I can do at a slower rate. Please don't kill me?

On another note, this is just the prologue and an intro. Read over it for my sake at least.

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:** Saiyuki is not owned by me. It will never be owned by me. _However, my perverted fantasies will remain mine and mine alone, unless I share them with you and then you might either be scarred or... let's not go there._ Did I say that out loud? Oh, crap.

* * *

**A Friendly Introduction:**

This is the follow up for A Seriously Messed-Up Series and picks up where Reload begins, though I will be doing some prequel to the 'Cape Incident' scene. The prologue is mostly catch up and reiteration for those who care, though there will be some extra mixed in. Rather than using book titles again, I will be instead using the names of songs as well as a small blurb of music just after the title.

For those returning on reviews, thank you. For those who are new, welcome. Enjoy… And if you are new period… go read the first story, please! A lot more will make sense even though I did include a very, _very_ brief summary of what happened before.

TTFN.

—Khait Khepri—

LANGUAGE KEY:

"Hello." Language Understood

"**Hello."** Language Not Understood

"Om." Chant

"_Hello."_ Disembodied Voice, as in completely different place, not just around the corner (or emphasis)

* * *

**Prologue: Musical Notes Reverberating**

Roxanna Marie Sanchez was your average, ordinary girl, aged seventeen. She was normal, had a car, and was totally accepting of her fate. She was quite happy about it, actually. This teenager was to have her birthday in a few days and she was supposed to have a big bash with her friends and family.

Unfortunately, that never happened. Roxanna was swept into a world where demons exist and she was woefully short on how to speak the lingo that was Chinese and Japanese. Roxanna didn't even know how to speak Spanish, so it was no real surprise that she didn't know how to speak Chinese. What was even stranger was that it became apparent that the world she was in was not an average one at all. It was, in truth, a comic book series that her brother loved very much.

As such, it would only be natural that she met a group of very strange, very boisterous, very handsome men and they took her in to keep her safe from the demons that could and probably would easily end her life out of fun and for food. Not that she knew that at first. Being unable to speak the language made it very difficult for her to learn what the situation was. However, things took a turn for the worse when a psychotic man harmed the leader of the group.

After a visitation from Kanzeon Bosatsu, Roxanna was blessed (or was that perhaps cursed?) with the ability to speak Japanese and Chinese as well as the gift (or burden?) of having the power over lightning. She was subsequently forced to learn how to fight and defend herself, but didn't have to go it alone as the Great Kannon had ordered the Sanzo-ikkou to take her with them. After several adventures, none of them very easy it seemed, Ana discovered that she had fallen for Sanzo and, after a very long dance between the two of them to try and avoid going further than a crush in respect for a certain priest's feelings, Sanzo came to realize his own affections for the eighteen-year-old. After the incident with Kami-sama, Sanzo put aside his own reservations against falling for a young woman and let himself fall for her, though he was still his usual abrasive self save for quiet one-on-one alone time.

Today, however, would not turn out to be one of those one-on-one situations… And if that doesn't sound ominous to you, I don't know what would.

They were in a small city mostly undamaged by the Minus Wave and those it affected. As it was nearing the end of July, the weather was warm but not unbearable. People milled in the streets and paid little heed to a young woman with dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes who roamed the streets and occasionally entering various shops or examining various stalls whenever one caught her eye. Well, most people paid little heed. One person was paying an exceptional amount of heed to her and was curiously following her through the streets at a discrete distance. Finally, after mustering up some courage, this person approached the young lady with a hopeful smile.

"Hello?" came a hesitant voice from out of seeming nowhere to Ana's ears and she turned to find herself looking at a young man around her age in some surprise. She noted his Asian features and his rather good looking face before pretty much assessing that he wasn't nearly as nice looking as her… Squeal! …Boyfriend, Sanzo. A cursory glance told her that there wasn't any visible jewelry to tell her if he was youkai or not, but likely not as that kind of thing tended to be obvious.

"Yes?" she asked after her moment of observation.

"My name is Shan and I couldn't help but wonder if… you were new in town?"

"Oh!" she said in slight surprise. "Yes, I'm new." She grinned. "But don't worry. I'll be out of town by tomorrow. My friends and I are just passing through."

"No! No!" exclaimed Shan, a blush covering his cheeks at her smile as he waved his hands frantically to disabuse her of the notion. Ana had to push herself back a bit to keep from being potentially hit. "That's not what I meant! I thought you were very pretty and thought you'd like an escort! A pretty girl like yourself should have someone protecting you."

She blinked at him slowly. "I don't need protection. I can take care of myself," she told him, a slight blush staining her own cheeks. "Thank you for the offer though…" Ana turned away slowly and began walking from Shan, wondering what exactly she did to deserve any kind of attention. And now that he had spoken to her, the people around them were beginning to eye her with curiosity. A hand touched down on her shoulder and it took everything in her to not zap the unsuspecting person for startling her. The members of the Ikkou all knew to inform her of their presence before ever touching her with any kind of force without her seeing the movement.

"Please, at least allow me to escort you back to your hotel?" asked Shan, who had stopped her yet again. She gave him a look over her shoulder and sighed.

"Fine. Why not?" she said. "But if you get me in trouble, your ass'll be grass." In Chinese, the normally rhyming phrase did not sound as good and it irked her how much was lost in translation between English and Chinese.

"Thank you," he said, graciously as he walked beside her. Ana was embarrassed. Highly embarrassed. What was she supposed to do if the two of them walk right up to the inn and the guys see her with some dude she didn't even know? Deny all together that she was with him for a short while? And what would Sanzo do?! Ana had inadvertently found out that he was a very jealous individual and didn't like her to be too friendly with others… he only tolerated Gojyo's fake passes at her because he knew the kappa didn't mean it for real (Gojyo having more honor than that, surprisingly).

And the way she had found out? She had bumped into a guy who was walking down the hall at the previous inn and both of them apologized and eventually were laughing a bit at the whole thing. Sanzo came in on the laughing part, assumed she might be getting to friendly with this stranger, and firmly 'escorted' her back to their rooms for the night and proceeded to give her his own version of the Spanish Inquisition before she had calmed him down enough to actually pay attention to what she was trying to say ('It was an accident and he meant no harm!'). Afterwards, there was a nice little make-up session that was cut short by Goku barging in the room and wanting to see what Ana had been up to.

Needless to say, Goku got the crap scared out of him when Sanzo tried to shoot him for the interruption and the impromptu PDA for an audience of one. And Goku found himself swearing rather fervently that he'd always knock before entering a room so that he wouldn't get shot.

"So… why would I get you in trouble?" he asked after a moment's silence.

"Nnnh…" she mumbled. "You wouldn't understand the situation even if I told it to you, so don't worry about it." She just wanted to get away from him. She didn't want to get in trouble. She didn't need this guy shot.

"Okay…" he said, looking at her. She didn't seem very eager to let him be near her. He caught a glimpse of a shaved ice vendor and grinned. "Wait here," he told her and she complied while blinking incredulously at him. He went over and quickly bought two cups of shaved ice. One was cherry and the other was plum flavored. He brought the two treats over to her and her eyebrows arched upwards. "Here!" he offered, holding up the ice.

"Uh…"

"Come on… take it!" He put the red colored ice in her hands and she sighed, feeling the cold of the ice seep through the cup and into her fingers. "I got it just for you." Shan smiled brightly at her and she decided to not just put it back in his hands. She really didn't want to eat it, though. Her mom told her to never eat anything given to you by a stranger. The only reason she had accepted the food from her friends originally is because she knew that an inn's food would likely be uncontaminated and she could eat it with little fear… just wariness.

She did, however, keep moving in a direction that wouldn't lead her past the inn they were staying at. It did have an unpleasantly close side effect, though.

Hakkai was shopping in the market with Gojyo playing pack mule. They spotted Ana and Shan, the former looking embarrassed and the latter seeming a tad bit friendly.

"Oh, dear," murmured Hakkai, seeing the cup of shaved ice in Ana's hands and what the chattering Shan was doing, though he didn't know the boy's name.

"Ooh," said a granny from the stall he was next to at the moment. "Looks like that kid finally took an interest in someone!" she cackled. Gojyo glanced at her and realized she was looking at the teenager that was next to Ana.

"What's his name?" he asked, pointing at the pair.

"Oh, that's Shan. He's a pretty good kid, but his parents were killed not too long ago. Made him draw into himself. Me and my husband have been watching out for him as have a few other families. He must really like her, hm? Wonder who she is… I've never seen her around here before."

"Oh, dear," Hakkai said again. "Sanzo is not going to enjoy this one bit…" He cast a glance at Gojyo, who nodded his head in agreement. "What do you believe we should do?"

"Break up the party?" he suggested.

"You two will do no such thing!" shot out the granny, angry that they'd ruin a good thing. "Shan's happy!"

Hakkai frowned at her. "And suppose they run into her boyfriend, Ma'am?" he said seriously.

She blinked at them and still frowned hard at them, her wrinkles definitely emphasizing the look. "If that girl can make him happy for a little while, then I still say leave them alone!"

Gojyo didn't care what the granny had to say as he was already moving to join the two teenagers. "Yo! Ana-kun!" he called, attracting Ana's attention. Ana's face changed quickly from surprise to horror when she realized it was Gojyo coming towards her… and Hakkai looked to be not too far behind but was being chewed out by some old lady in a stall, his smile gone which was not of the good.

"Do you know him?" asked Shan of her, looking over to see the undeniable look of worry and fear on her face. The undeniable friendly add-on to her name was also a high indicator that she indeed knew him.

"Yeah… he's… a good friend," she told him, her face taking on a deeper reddish tone as she blushed harshly at being found out.

"What's up?" the kappa asked, a fake-but-real-looking smile on his face. "Who's your friend?"

"Um… this is Shan," introduced Ana.

"I was escorting her back to her inn," he said to Gojyo, observing this potential threat. To him, a 'good friend' meant a 'boyfriend'. Especially with the pause Ana had put in there. The man was obviously older, good looking, with unusual red hair and… red eyes? He had no idea what exactly the red eyes meant but if it wasn't important enough to remember off hand, he wouldn't worry about it.

"An escort, huh?" Gojyo said, not liking the sound of this. To the inn, the kid had said. Which, judging from their position, Ana hadn't been headed back to the inn. The girl knew of the dangers involved if she had done _that_. "Ana-kun? You too scared to come back on your own?" he 'teased' her.

Ana knew she was in deep shit. "I didn't exactly ask around for one. You know I can take care of myself." Her eyes were fixed on the cup of ice in her hands and the ice was beginning to drip to the ground.

"Mmmhmm," murmured Hakkai, finally having come up behind Gojyo, holding a bag of non-perishable items. "Hello, Ana-dono," he said, his own smile back and betraying a slight amount of worry.

"Hi, Hakkai!" she chirped in a false-bright tone. Shan wasn't liking the looks of this. Two guys, both undeniably good looking with unusual eyes and older, knew Ana and were greeting her very causally. "Doing some shopping?"

"We have to. Goku ate everything we had save that last can of Spam…" He saw the disgusted look on Ana's face and chuckled lightly. "Don't worry. I won't make you eat it, Ana-dono. And I didn't buy any this round."

"Is one of you her boyfriend or something?" Shan asked, curious. He watched as the brunette gained a shocked, blushing look… the sweetheart kind, then, he guessed… and the red head began smirking at him before leaning forward some.

"And if we are?" Gojyo said in a pervert type of voice. "Sorry dude, I don't do threesomes where the third is a dude."

"Sha Gojyo!" squealed Ana, her face red as was Shan's and Hakkai was muttering an 'oh, dear'. "You pervert!" she hissed.

"Just doin' my job," laughed Gojyo as he straightened, his grin wide.

"You dirty _old_ pervert!" she added.

"Hey!" protested the kappa. "If I'm old, what does that make _boyfriend-chan_?" he teased. It earned him another indignant squeal, 'oh, dear', and one highly confused look from Shan. Next thing the kappa knew, he was forced to dodge a cold bomb of cherry flavored ice as Ana pitched it at him. However, he couldn't dodge fast enough and the cold ice impacted on his arm, earning a yelp and him backing off.

"Call him that again and he'll shoot you, kappa!" snapped Ana, wanting to shock him just a bit.

"You've been spending _way_ to much with Baldie… come join us nice, normal people some time!" jeered Gojyo, deliberately riling her up before turning and bolting from Ana, the young woman hot on his heels.

"Get back here, you perverted piece of shit!" she shouted after him. An instant later, her foot slipped out from under her and she crashed into the ground. It cleared her mind just enough to hear the murmurings of the crowd around her, all of them shocked by what was a display of pretty much normal interaction between the members of the Sanzo-ikkou. "Owww…" she moaned as she registered her extremities pain and worked her abused lungs. The impact had taken the breath right out of her.

"Ana-dono!"

"Ana-chan!"

Two voices called out and two people came up, worried about her. "Are you okay?" asked the two in unison.

"Yeah… just the breath knocked out of me," mumbled Ana as she lifted herself up slowly, her palms protesting. Once sitting, she saw that her hands and forearms had gotten minor scrapes with dirt and grit pressed into them. "Great…" she said flatly.

Hakkai sighed and set down the groceries as he knelt down beside her. "You know better than to let Gojyo get to you, Ana-dono," he said to her. Lightly brushing away the debris, he saw that they were just mostly scraped, a little blood from the deeper stuff, and otherwise would bruise and be rather tender.

She sniffed indignantly. "He shouldn't be making those jokes then."

"He's _Gojyo_. If he suddenly stopped being a bit… perverted, then it would be unnatural… like him not being with the group." She remembered all too well what happened without Gojyo there. For one, Hakkai was scary when worried out of his wits. At the face she made when she remembered the situation, Hakkai actually chuckled. "I see you remember."

"Is there anything I need to get?" asked Shan, worried. "Some bandages or…" He trailed off and looked between the two that were very close but obviously not in a boyfriend-girlfriend fashion.

"That would be good," Hakkai decided, choosing to take care of her injuries via chi in private. "Some gauze and hydrogen peroxide would be very good."

"All right," Shan said as he straightened and moved to get the supplies.

While he was gone, Ana looked at Hakkai. "You know I didn't pick him up, right?"

"I know," sighed Hakkai. "And you're too nice to just tell him to go away. How on earth are you going to get him to leave you alone before Sanzo spots you two?"

"I was hoping you'd help me out there."

"I'd rather not get involved," he said sternly. "And Gojyo shouldn't either. You know that." She sighed in resignation. Hakkai would have said more but Shan came up at that moment.

"I got the stuff," the teen said, kneeling down next to them. There was something extra in his hand… a small bouquet of simple wildflowers. Hakkai and Ana gave each other a long look. "It's a get well soon type of thing," Shan said, slightly embarrassed as he laid them down next to her. "Here's the bandages and the peroxide," he told Hakkai, giving over the stuff. "Is there anything else I can do?"

"No, no…" waved off Hakkai. "I'll just doctor her up and then get on with my shopping. If you two are safely away, then that means Gojyo will come back and help me carry this stuff to the inn."

"Hey, Hakkai? Where's Hakuryuu?" asked Ana, suddenly.

"He's asleep at the inn. That last bit tired him out," informed Hakkai as he began pouring some of the peroxide along her left arm, causing her to hiss as the wound stung at her. "And when you get back, I'll fix these up better for you."

Once Hakkai had finished patching her up, Ana stood as did the two men and Hakkai nodded to her before walking off to see if he could find Gojyo again.

"So… he isn't your boyfriend?" asked Shan curiously.

"No…" she sighed. "Som—"

"Don't forget your flowers!" Shan said, picking up the bouquet still laying on the ground and handed them to her. "What were you saying?" he asked cheerfully.

"I have a boyfriend," she told him flatly. "That's what Gojyo was going on about." He looked taken aback. "And Hakkai decided to be mean and let me take care of the entire situation when he could have saved me a good deal of embarrassment."

"But…"

"The only reason I didn't say anything was because I wasn't sure _how_ to say it. You try telling someone that you have someone else sometime when they're interested in you. It's hard…" She looked away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry."

He remained quiet for a moment before speaking up. "At least let me take you back to your inn," he said quietly, crushed that the pretty girl had someone, though he shouldn't have been so surprised.

She sighed. "Sure… but I suggest you leave pretty quick… I don't want you getting in trouble, okay?"

"With who?" he asked.

"Sanzo. Who else?" she said as she walked forward, towards the inn instead of circling it. He came up next to her and then blinked in sudden shock.

"Sanzo?!" he yipped. "_The_ Sanzo as in _Genjyo Sanzo_ who's exterminating youkai?!"

She blinked at him before wrinkling her nose and said sarcastically, "No, it's some dude using the Sanzo title as a name!"

Shan was apparently none too bright because he instantly relaxed. "You had me worried there," he said, making her stare at him in absolute confusion. "Have you heard about Sanzo and his party?" She continued staring at him, only in more of a 'you've got to be joking' manner. "He's a great holy man that goes all over China with his four attendants and exterminates the evil youkai… and why are you laughing?"

She had fallen against a nearby wall, giggling like crazy. Especially at the 'holy man' part. The 'four attendants' was exceptionally funny, too. "N-noth-thing!" she laughed. "K-keep going!"

He looked at her for a long moment before continuing as she had told him to. "Well… his attendants are three men and he's even got a woman with him! It is said that she's his maid or something--"

"What?!" shrieked Ana, standing up straight and looking majorly pissed. "Who the hell said _that_?!"

"It's just a rumor!" he said, cowering back. "I don't know how much is real, but if the stories are even half true, they—"

"They're not," Ana said flatly as she marched away angrily. "God! I hated the rumor mill in school and I think I hate it even worse now!" she spat in English.

"Wait! What did I say?!" Shan asked, going after her. "And what did you say?"

"Nothing to worry about," she told him, reigning in her annoyance and turning back to him. Maid, indeed. Pah. She folded her arms over her chest. "You were just repeating a bunch of bullshit and I really suggest you stop listening to idiots."

"Do you mean you've met Priest Sanzo?"

"Yes, I have."

"And his attendants?"

"They're anything but. I can assure you the girl you're talking about would probably punch you if you told her she was a maid to her face," she said drily as she tacked on mentally, _'That is, if I didn't already have very good control of my temper ten seconds ago.'_ "Oh, and the guys would probably take it a step further and try and kill you and leave your body in an embarrassing situation."

Shan blanched. "Er… Oh."

"Yeah. Oh," she said, turning back towards the inn.

"What would Priest Sanzo say to the rumors?" he asked warily.

She frowned. "I don't know. He's something of a mystery." And with that, they emerged onto the proper street right before the inn. Ana turned, unaware of the violet eyes that had happened to be looking out the window of their rooms at that moment, and said, "This is my stop."

"Oh… okay," said the suddenly saddened Shan. "So you'll be leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah. We've got to go on this stupid journey thing and I can't get out of it, so…" She shrugged. "Anyway. Goodbye."

"Good bye," he said with a final, defeated tone to his voice. He turned and walked away, vanishing back into the crowd. Ana frowned after him and looked at the pathetic bundle of flowers. She looked around for a trash can and held on to them as there were none available at that moment. Walking inside the inn, she spotted one and tossed them into it with a sigh. It was a bitch to break some guy's heart. Their egos were too easily shattered by a woman.

But she did the right thing. She had spent months pining after Sanzo and now that she had him, there was no need to be unfaithful.

Ana smiled. At least nothing bad came out of the bit of peaceful interaction… now if only her scrapes would stop throbbing some.

* * *

No Chapters completed.

* * *

Please review! I know this story will take some slow going, but I hope you do review some.


	2. Chapter I: Ironic

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Saiyuki no matter how you look at it. I do own Ana no matter how you look at it. However, now that I look at it, I have to say it's no fair! Can't I have Saiyuki, too?

* * *

**Reviews:** Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? I've already been included into two C2s. And also, I've had 27 reviews from the first chapter alone. That in and of itself is amazing beyond belief. I've gotten reviews from 'A Seriously Messed-Up Series' when people saw this one and wanted to read the first (or at least, that's what I believe).

I'm not going to type out responses for all my reviews as they are so many and I really don't want to spend all the time on them. However, I can address key points, and list out thank yous to all those who have reviewed.

**The Extra Manga:** It will be showing up in this chapter.

**Hazel and Gat:** Yep, they'll be appearing.

**Sanzo and Ana:** They're going to be one crazy pair, I'll tell you that much. Between the fights and the violence that will sometimes occur between them, it's actually verging abusive. Of course, that just means the other fireworks will be that much more fun. Also, I'll try to have smoochies as much as I can, but you know how Sanzo's a very private individual. He hides from the spotlight no matter how hard I try and drag him in.

**Being Texan:** Because one reviewer (AmY-DyLaN-SoHiA-aNiKi) was spazzing so bad (in a very humorous way), yes, I'm Texan (actually eighth generation to be exact) and will be to the day I die because I don't think I'll ever leave permanently. I can't be without my humidity here on the coast. And, by the way, Gustav never bothered us at all. Feel sorry for the Louisianans though. But us, not a speck of rain.

**Ana the Maid:** That was such a random idea, it was hilarious when I did it. I was looking for someone to basically piss Sanzo off (Shan) and Ana to get in trouble (via Shan). When I was typing about Sanzo having servants, I realized 'What reason would Ana have for being there?' and put down 'maid' as it was better than 'Sanzo's sex toy' (no matter how much we might want it, the nice little Buddhists wouldn't) or 'slave'.

**'Thank you' to you and you and you and...**

Risu-san, Goku's elegy, DustBunnyQueen, SakuraEmma29, Sarkura, patriot16, shadowluzid, BlueStocking, tokidoki, fornicatedsin, White Raven, cheeky half-demon, ChibiPandaChan, silver-eyed, A Reviewer, blizardwolf1, nami, TFK-fan118, AmY-DyLaN-SoHiA-aNiKi, invisible-gurl, White Fire Alchemist, MikoAlchemist, Miorochi, TheDemonMistress, DevilGirl1995, kura-wolfgoddess, joycer22

**To all returning:** Welcome back.

**To all those new:** Welcome.

* * *

**Chapter I: Ironic**

_Isn't it ironic?_

_Don't you think?_

_It's like rain_

_On your wedding day_

_It's a free ride_

_When you've already paid_

_It's the good advice_

_That you just didn't take_

_But who would have thought_

_It figured…?_

_Alanis Morisette_

Sanzo was pissed. Beyond pissed. Ana was _flirting_ with some guy from this town like she wasn't even with him! Part of him knew that he was being a little over dramatic… but he resolutely ignored that part of him because he was almost one hundred percent sure that she was interested in that guy.

"Sanzo?" asked Goku, looking at the unusually tense priest. Save for Gojyo's teasing, Sanzo was probably just the slightest more relaxed now that he and Ana had decided to share… alone time. Gojyo was already trying to coax Goku and Hakkai into betting when exactly Sanzo would actually do the dirty if he hadn't already. He, as in Sanzo, had overheard the conversation and was very tempted to actually go and put a bullet through the kappa's head, like the cockroach fully deserved.

At least he had been kind enough not to inform Ana about Gojyo's attempts to bet on her sex life. Ana and Gojyo had to sit in the same back seat… and any tension between the two would give him a tension _headache_. Or rather, another tension headache. This journey was a headache and Goku was a headache, not to mention Gojyo was one and Hakkai was yet another.

"What?" grunted out the Sanzo priest as he turned away from the window as Ana entered the building.

"What's wrong?" asked the chimp, staring at the priest with worried eyes.

"None of your business," he spat.

Silence fell across the room and the seconds ticked by slowly before there was the sound of footsteps outside the door before they stopped and the door handle moved. The latch clicked and Sanzo found himself glaring at the door as it swung open to reveal a certain coffee-brown eyed young lady that had managed to worm her way into his heart despite all his best efforts to keep her out. He noted in a very worried manner that she had bandages on her palms, wrists, and forearms. Her short haired shifted into said eyes as she blinked at him, seeing his scowl, before frowning herself.

"What's wrong?" Ana asked, echoing Goku's earlier words.

"Goku. Out," ordered Sanzo, eyes remaining firmly fixed on Ana's as she shifted the hair out of her eyes with a bandaged hand. Said chimp jumped in surprise at being addressed so suddenly despite the fact there was no one focusing on him.

"Okay," said Goku, sulking slightly that he'd miss out on the show. He stepped out of the room and found himself very tempted to stay and listen to the conversation. He also knew that if Sanzo caught him doing such a thing, he'd get his ass beat from here to high Heaven with a detour through Hell just to ensure a scenic route. Goku even figured he might actually get shot. And not the near misses Sanzo usually entertained himself with.

But Goku, being a very, very brave young man, slipped into the room next door to the one that was figured to contain Ana and Sanzo and Hakkai for the night. The one he entered was actually his and Gojyo's room. He settled down next to the wall and pressed his ear to the barrier to catch all that would be said…

On the other side of the barrier, Ana and Sanzo were staring each other down. "Okay," she said finally. "Now that Goku is gone, is there something you'd like to tell me?" She came off sounding a bit haughty, which was a tone she winced at mentally.

"Do you enjoy pissing me off?" asked Sanzo in a very venomous tone.

"Not really, no," Ana said, folding her arms over her chest. "I'd prefer if we would get along without all the yelling and screaming and fucking Spanish Inquisitions when you perceive me doing something you think is wrong."

"And flirting with that bastard out there in front of the _inn_ won't make me mad?" the priest hissed angrily. He was pleased to see her pale in shock and horror. "I suppose you know what I'm talking about?"

"Flirting?" she asked him, staring at him with wide eyes. "You thought I was _flirting_?" Her voice traveled up a couple of octaves as she went.

"Damn sure looked like it," Sanzo said to her, his violet eyes harder than diamond as he glared at her and folded his arms over his chest.

"Well, it _wasn't_," Ana told him flat out. "Some guy just comes up and starts… _flirting_." She couldn't come up with a better word and bit that one out rather sourly. "And I try to get him to back off and he just won't go away. He keeps coming with me no matter what I tell him not to do. I run into Hakkai and Gojyo as they were shopping together and Hakkai pretty much told me to handle it myself."

"_What_ by yourself?" asked Sanzo in a dry tone.

"Getting rid of Shan. He did this after I fell on my freaking face after trying to chase after that bastard Gojyo when he made fun of me. Lucky me, it was my arms that took all the damage." So that was how her arms became bandaged. She had scraped them.

Sanzo stared at her and wished he could forgive her somehow… someway. Or at least shoot the bastard she had been talking to. But she had been… unfaithful… though that rational part was being very persistent at this point about her not being so.

"He gave you flowers."

"And I threw them away once I got inside," she said to him slowly. "Like I'd just throw them on the ground. He was already pretty shocked that I told him I had a boyfriend even though he insisted on coming with me back to the inn."

She wasn't cheating, then. And she was cleanly killing each of his arguments without probably realizing it.

"And on top of that, he told me that you were some great holy man wandering around and exterminating youkai and you had four attendants. One of which was not only a woman but a _maid_." She gritted her teeth at the word 'maid' and looked rather mad. "Idiot rumor mill." He raised an eyebrow. Ana looked at him with an annoyed expression. "Look, I can pretty much guess what's going on in that blonde head of yours. I wasn't cheating, flirting, or anything. I really was trying to get rid of him the entire time he was with me because… guess what? I knew if you saw him you'd want to shoot him. Or me. Depended who you were angrier at. And now that he's gotten me in trouble, I'm so tempted to hunt his ass down and kick the dog shit out of it because I told him if he got me in trouble, I'd get him for it."

As she continued her rant to herself, Sanzo relaxed slowly.

The next thing Ana knew, Sanzo had her pinned to his form and was kissing her on her lips with a needy passion. As per usual, _she_ melted against him as one arm continued to support her and the other roamed slightly around her belly, thighs, and ass. Her own arms shifted to loop around his neck as she freed her lips from his to kiss around his mouth and on his jaw line with a series of butterfly kisses.

His supporting hand was rubbing circles in her back with the thumb and his other hand was completely interested in the place where her butt met her thigh, providing additional support to her as her own hands began to roam down his arms, massaging slightly as they went. His lips found hers once more and he was tempted to smirk at her breathlessness after he let them go a few seconds later. He fell to temptation and she stood there a couple of seconds looking slightly dazed before coming to and realizing what he did.

"Asshole," she muttered, forcing herself into a frown despite the fact she wanted to grin like a nut. The laughter must have shown in her eyes for the 'asshole' let his smirk grow bigger as he let her go.

"Brat," he told her as he turned away, leaving her wanting for more… and himself as well, dammit. Unfortunately, it was at that point Hakkai entered the room with a short couple of knocks and was followed by Gojyo. Their time together was cut short and the look on Hakkai's face said that he knew he had interrupted something as Sanzo gave him a rather pointed look and Ana looked annoyed herself.

"Ah, sorry," laughed the youkai. "We just got done with the shopping." He glanced at Ana, a questioning look in his eyes. "Ana-dono? Did you manage to take care of that… problem you had?"

She blinked at him, as did the others in confusion to what he meant, but her eyes lit up in understanding and she smiled. "Yep! Took a bit, but I got rid of him!" she chirped. "That whole mess brought on more trouble than he was worth _ever_."

"I see Sanzo found out," Hakkai said dryly, glancing at Sanzo.

The priest grunted in affirmation.

"Yes, and I was in the process of informing him he was wrong about what he thought when you guys came back," Ana continued. _'More like barged in,'_ she thought. But she didn't dare say it. Hakkai would gain a hurt puppy look that would make her feel incredibly guilty. Screw how Gojyo would feel.

"Rea-lly?" asked a curious Gojyo, the note in his voice of curiosity.

Then it went from controlled (sort of) to out of control. Goku ran back in and began chattering at the others and luckily distracting Gojyo from more pervert comments. Ana, amid all of this, discovered she wanted to introduce her head to a wall. Sanzo seemed of a different opinion as he looked like he wanted to forgo the self-mutilation and go straight to the other-people-mutilation.

"Will you bastards get out of this damn room?" growled the priest, silencing all conversation with pure murderous intent dripping in his voice. Ana would have been impressed months ago, but now she wasn't. Sanzo was just special like that. As in rode in the little yellow bus special… no, wait. That would be Goku that sometimes rode in the little yellow bus.

Sanzo was smarter than that.

Joking aside, the mood was ruined. And the end to any fun to be had.

As such… time moves on like a river, much to Ana's distaste.

* * *

And these four and one move on like a group of fight-seeking mongrels… wait… none of them are full blood to begin with, so I guess that particular statement is true. And Ana would protest that probably more fervently than having been interrupted by a group of men that seemed to delight in interrupting alone time between her and Sanzo.

Back to the story and away from Ana's feelings in which she would probably use to override this story.

Above, in the Heavens, Kanzeon Bosatsu looked down upon them while a woman sat next to hi-r on hi-r left with a laptop on her knee and behind them to hi-r right stood hi-r manservant, Jiroushin.

"So you finally began on the next part of their saga?" asked Kannon.

"It took some time, but yes, I am," replied the short-haired brunette sitting next to her as she furiously typed in words.

"Are you putting this conversation in there?" asked the god-dess, slightly incredulous. Jiroushin shook his head in disbelief, but kept silent.

"Yes," replied Khait simply. The god-dess sighed in exasperation. "What? Don't you like the stage, my friend?"

"Aren't they center stage?"

"Your nephew will come up soon enough. Now that I've said my piece, I'll be going, but not before I say my favorite line."

"Oh, and what's that?"

"Are you bastards ready yet?"

Kannon barked out a laugh. "Oh, yes!" Khait echoed her laughter even as she and her laptop faded from view. Hi-r laughter died down to a knowing smirk, tapping one long blood red nail against her cheek. "Indeed. After everything… Are you boys ready yet? Are you, Ana?"

* * *

On the earth approximately a week later, Ana blearily opened her eyes and sat up, experimentally shifting her shoulders when she felt something bind them unusually. The young woman either wore a tank or a giving tee shirt to allow movement in the bed, but for some reason the fabric on her shoulders felt stiffer and not very giving.

Her return to consciousness was made a lot faster when she heard a horrified scream that sounded a lot like Goku. Snapping awake fully, she hopped out of bed and into the hall, fixing her gaze on Goku and losing her voice at the sight of him and of Sanzo and Gojyo as well.

"Where's the fire, Goku?" asked Gojyo, looking surprised before everyone focused on each other and everyone turned sour looking, the fan on Sanzo's shoulder showing he was less than pleased and wanted to hit something.

"I woke up this morning and… and… I was dressed like _this_!" Goku said, gesturing at the getup. He, like everyone else, was wearing a cheesy looking snakeskin tuxedo coat paired with striped pants, a ruffled shirt, and an overly large bowtie printed with stars.

The only difference in their outfits was that Gojyo had polka dots on his bowtie, Sanzo had hearts on his bowtie, and Ana, she discovered as she looked down at herself, had stereotypical six-petal flowers on hers.

She considered it lucky they weren't wearing clown shoes.

She also considered it lucky that whoever did this hadn't actually stripped her of her sleeping clothes. She could feel the material still against her skin.

"Oh, my," came a voice from behind Sanzo, Gojyo, and Ana. "Everyone looks so wonderful." It was Hakkai and he was dressed the same as them save the bowtie had stripes running over it and his monocle had been replaced by a pair of swirly glasses that looked like the bottom of coke bottles. Immediately, they all knew who had done it. Him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" demanded Ana, balling her fists in her anger and a blush on her cheeks in embarrassment.

"Well… our other clothes were worn out from the trip. I thought that if we were to by new outfits, they should be more fitting of us." He chuckled. "Hence, the clown costumes," he finished. Gojyo's hand gripped the youkai's shoulder, anger in his posture and face.

"There are so many things I could say to that, but for now… Just _spare me_," begged Gojyo, not really wanting to pop the man for this.

"I also have some unitards that are easier to move in, if you'd like," offered Hakkai, glancing at Sanzo over his shoulder. The priest looked ominous even as he smacked his fan into his other palm.

"_We are not performers_," spat Sanzo. "_Stop thinking of performers_."

Behind him, Ana was chanting 'I hate clowns, I hate clowns, I hate clowns' over and over even as she struggled to unbutton the jacket. The pants were already gone and pooled at her feet, her sleeping shorts keeping her decent. Unfortunately, the bowtie was getting in her way.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it," Hakkai tried to placate. He saw Ana. "Ana-dono! You shouldn't do that right here in the hall!"

"Gimmie my old clothes, you evil clown person you!" snapped out Ana. "I'll take rags over this shit any day!"

"You should calm down. At this rate, you'll have a heart attack before you're thirty," Hakkai said, making 'calm down' motions.

"My family has no history of it! Not gonna happen! Gimme my clothes!"

"Hey," Goku said, pulling at the lapel. "Where'd he buy these things, anyway? Tokyu Hands?"

Gojyo, on the other hand, was watching as Ana basically half-stripped, half-cussed Hakkai out in the hall. _'While I appreciate the show, I think it would be better if he gave us back the old clothes. Ana seems scared of clowns.'_

"Oh, fine…" sighed Hakkai in a mock-sad manner. "Here, then."

He handed each person a bag that had been tucked around a nearby corner and then told them to go on and change, keeping the last bag for himself.

A couple minutes later, they were all wearing much more decent clothes and checking themselves over.

"Finally…" sighed Ana in relief.

"We changed into something decent… Compared to the last shit," remarked Gojyo.

"Even though they're almost exactly the same as our old clothes!" laughed Hakkai.

Indeed, it was true. Goku kept his old arrangement on his upper half, but his khaki pants were replaced by blue jeans that turned ragged after a little bit after his knee. His boots remained the same, but the bracers on his arms had been replaced with black sweat bands. Hakkai also mostly kept to his old outfit, but the sleeves of his shirt were now short sleeves on the green tunic and long sleeves on the black shirt underneath. Ana had her same basic Mandarin collared shirt of sky blue, with sleeves going down to the middle of her upper arm – slits in the cloth to provide decoration and movement –, and white silk wraps neatly encasing her forearms and part of her palms, leaving her fingers free to wiggle. Her lower body now sported a pair of pale blue jean shorts with buttons down the front that were a little higher than half way down her upper leg and her legs were covered by similar wrappings on her shins and feet, covered by her sturdy brown leather hiking boots. Gojyo had changed the most as he was now sporting a pair of black jeans, white tee-shirt, brown leather jacket with a fuzzy black collar, a brown headband that bore no characters, and a pair of black boots.

Then Goku noticed Sanzo as Ana fiddled with the wraps on her arms, unused to the sensation. "Sanzo?" asked the chimp, "Ya didn't change at all!"

The priest merely looked at the monkey. "Of course I didn't," he said plainly. "These robes are the traditional uniform of a Sanzo Priest. I can't just change out of them, dimwit." With that, he turned on heel. "Now get your asses moving and let's go."

Having shifted like he did, the shoes he wore made an unfamiliar sound on the floor boards, which attracted the three backseaters' attention. Surprised, Ana asked aloud what the three of them thought. "Is that normal for Sanzos to wear boots?"

* * *

The five of them had encountered some problems in the next town they were in. Sanzo had been recognized and immediately everyone clamored to him, wanting the 'protection' him and his 'companions' would surely provide them. It had not only pissed Sanzo and company off… it drew the attention of nearby demons as well. The number was small as the settlement wasn't that dangerous or that ripe of a town to begin with, but it was more than they reasonably wanted to deal with.

So, after they had restocked, they moved on and the lot of them tried to devise ways to avoid the masses of people that just wanted Sanzo to care for them. After a while, Hakkai came up with the idea of cloaks and sunglasses.

Sanzo had naturally insulted the idea, saying it was way too obvious. Ana personally agreed with him up until the point that he stated that it would possibly work as most people wouldn't pay attention to the obvious and come up with weird ideas of what the 'truth' was. That was when she started vocally objecting.

At that point, Hakkai took a small detour and stopped well outside the town that was somewhat out of their way. The youkai, armed with a smile and the credit card, went on into town and purchased five khaki-gray cloaks and five pairs of sunglasses. All of which were quite cheap.

He came back and they moved on, Goku looking over the new purchases with glee and Gojyo having already slipped his shades on even though they were not required.

Ana eyed him. "You look like an idiot with those oversized bug shields on your face," she told him sourly, not exactly enjoying the prospect of having to wear the shades herself. They weren't fashionable at all… Just bits of black plastic with dark lenses and no kind of pleasing shape or decoration such as glittering silver-backed plastic to pretend gems. And she hated the looks of them and the cloaks.

"It isn't that hard for him to look like an idiot," came Sanzo from the front seat, not looking back.

"Oi!" protested Gojyo, rather hotly, at the both of them. "I object!"

"And I'm Judge Judy and I overrule you and charge you with contempt of the court. Take 'em off," Ana ordered him. Goku snickered at them and Hakkai grinned to the front. Everyone save her didn't understand the pop-culture reference, but they knew what happened in courts and got the meaning at least.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Stop arguing and do it!" Ana snapped. "Or else I'll make you!" He leered at her as if to say 'I dare you'. The kappa was surprised to see she actually did… dare, that is. Her smallish hands – in comparison to his own – snatched at his shades and his larger hands blocked her attempts. The two of them wrestled for control in the back seat though neither dared to lift themselves out of the seats for fear of losing their balance and falling out of the car. It was a contest of hands only, and Goku rooted for Ana while Sanzo started losing what little control he had over his temper.

Finally, Ana's fingers wrapped around one lens of the shades and she managed to half pull them off before he managed to shove them back on, accidentally poking himself in the eye in the process.

"Ow!" he yelped, releasing the shades to cover his abused eye. Ana's hand snapped to her, having not expected the sudden release.

"Are you okay?" she asked, holding the shades in the hand she had managed to get them.

"M'fine. Just poked myself in the eye," muttered the kappa.

"Serves you right!" laughed Goku.

"Shut up, monkey!" snarled the half-blooded demon, his glare only half as effective now that there was a hand clapped over an eye.

"Make me!" Goku teased before making faces at the older man, such as sticking his tongue out and pulling up his nose to resemble a pig's snout. "Nyah!"

"Looks good on you, Goku," grated out Gojyo. "How 'bout I make it permanent?"

"Shut up, you idiots!" snarled Sanzo, whipping out his gun and standing to face them from the front seat in all one fluid motion.

"Yeek!" squealed the lot of them as they cowered.

"Now, now, Sanzo. Don't shoot them. It would leave you with having to find another to torture when you get angry," 'admonished' Hakkai.

"Good point," grunted Sanzo as he turned and sat back down.

* * *

They had a meager meal that night in the eyes of Goku, who vacuumed down the food with a certain amount of sadness. "Don't worry, Goku," assured Hakkai even as the monkey watched the others eat the last of their own portions. "We'll get food in the next town when we get there."

"And when'll that be?" asked Ana.

"Tomorrow afternoon," informed the driver.

"Good," grunted Sanzo. After the dishes were cleaned, Ana and Hakkai practiced fighting like they usually did whenever out in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't so much that Hakkai needed the training, but Ana did. As she wasn't predisposed to a fighter's condition or instincts, she had to work to ingrain them into her with the aid of the youkai.

Naturally, Hakkai always softened his blows to be just one step ahead of Ana, urging her to do better by forcing her to strain to meet his chosen strength level.

Later, Ana and Sanzo slipped out of the camp as Hakkai made sure that Gojyo and Goku did not sneak off after them. Though their time bundled together was brief, they both enjoyed it quite a bit. It had to end all too soon for them and they returned to camp to bed down for the night.

* * *

As promised, they reached the town the next afternoon. And they were also forced into their new capes and sunglasses, which earned bitter muttering from Ana while they drove in. "So not suspicious" was one of the more helpful phrases into what she believed this farce to be. Sanzo, however, made sure to tell the lot to not draw extra attention no matter what.

They found an inn and climbed out of the transformed dragon, leaving him in the small parking area. They went inside and Hakkai checked them in for a single night while the others kinda hung around him trying to not attract the attention that they so richly deserved. Ana saw a little girl peak out from around a corner and, with nothing better to do, grinned and wiggled her fingers at her in a little wave. The young woman was uncomfortably aware of the fabric concealing her form and the girl ducked out of sight immediately.

Ana sighed slightly even as Hakkai finished checking in with the woman receptionist. "Here you are," murmured the polite demon.

"Thank you very much," said the woman, taking the registry and glanced at the names. "…Oh! Are you five related?" she asked. On the registry was listed Hayabusa Taro, Jiro, Saburo, Shiro, and Sayuri. In other words, Sanzo, Gojyo, Hakkai, Goku, and Ana.

Hakkai chuckled nervously as he scratched his head. "Something like that," he replied.

"Bad," spat Sanzo quietly to Hakkai. "Taste." He bit the words out one at a time to make them a little harsher.

"I couldn't help it. It was the first thing I could think of," apologized Hakkai, not turning to meet the irritable priest's shaded eyes.

"If you'll follow me, I'll show you—" began the woman, moving away from the desk even as Ana murmured to Sanzo: "How are we going to explain we aren't exactly related now?"

"We'll deal with it later," muttered Sanzo in return, feeling warm at her breath brushing over his cheek at her words. However, any other chance to speak was interrupted by Gojyo's sudden advance on the woman that was supposed to be escorting them.

"Hey, Miss," he said, attracting her attention and slipping close at the same time before the woman knew what was happening. "What's your name?"

The young girl that Ana had noticed before was now in full view as she tried to understand the kappa's actions.

"Um… Seria," she replied, blushing slightly. "Why?"

"Seria," he tasted the name. "That's cute—Almost as cute as you. You got plans for tonight?"

Color was definitely flooding her face at this point. "Huh? Um…" sammered the clearly distraught woman.

"Onee-cha—" cried out the little girl, coming to the woman's aid even as the problem was neatly and efficiently countered. Her cry was cut short because of the countering.

A foot to the kappa forced the lecher to the ground with a pained grunt. The owner of the foot, 'oldest brother Taro', placed said foot back onto the ground and patiently flicked his ashes into the conveniently placed ashtray that Ana held up for him.

She handed it back to Hakkai, who placed it back onto the table he had filched it from, even as Gojyo shot to his feet in anger. "That hurt, asshole!" snarled the kappa straight into Sanzo's face. "I need this face! What's the big idea?!"

"Shut your filthy immoral mouth. I said _not_ to draw extra attention," spat Sanzo. "And get away from me!"

Ana looked at the very suspicious young girl and sighed. If they couldn't fool a kid, what good did it do to try and fool an adult? "This isn't making us less obvious, you know," she muttered to the two of them.

Their conversation took a sudden left turn into a totally different topic when Goku's stomach growled. "Um, hey…" said the chimp, looking almost ravenous in a cute way. "Food?"

"Oh!" giggled Seira, hearing the word and fortunately not the rest of the conversation. "It's almost time for dinner, so I'll deliver when it's ready."

"Yay!" cheered Goku, punching the air with eager fists. "It's been forever since we ate for real!"

"Meaning since last week," chirped Ana to their guide even as they were taken to their room. Seira laughed heartily at that.

"Curb your enthusiasm, shit-for-brains," Sanzo told Goku.

Behind them, Ana saw as she looked over her shoulder, was one very suspicious little girl, hands on her hips.

After their meal, the Ikkou lounged in the confines of their room and talked even as Ana expertly shuffled a deck of cards for a round of poker with the bets being matchsticks. Each of the backseat group would have a book of matches to bet, as it was the only thing they could get a hold of at that time.

The rustle of cards accompanied her voice as she bitched. "Damn… How much longer do we have to wear this crap?"

She was now satisfied with the current mixing of the cards and started dealing five out to each of the current players. Sanzo responded as she did this. "Quit your whining. We wear it until people stop freaking out when they see us."

"We need to preserve our cover for now. Please just be patient." None of them were aware of the young girl lurking outside the door.

"We can't fool a little girl!" protested Ana. "Did you see her? She was giving us some serious fish-eye. You guys have got to realize this! This is like a cheesy 'B' rated movie!"

"Keep your voice down," Sanzo told her, hating the fact he was incapable of being close to her even in the relative privacy of the room. It didn't stop her from impairing his ability to smoke as she leaned against his arm that was currently supporting his nicotine habit. She was sitting on a bed semi-awkwardly to face the other bed in which the other two were currently sitting on, trying to see if they could win the bed from her. Three people would be taking up beds, despite the fact there were only two. Sanzo had immediately claimed one and Ana was happy to claim the same bed. No one challenged her for the spot, which was nice. And Ana was currently in the middle of trying to preserve her and Sanzo's bed from the two delinquents and have them fight over it if she lost it.

"Whatever," she told him in response.

"Well, whatever happens, it's 'Dear Brother Taro' who's screwed the most if he's seen."

"You're inviting nothing but death," growled Sanzo as he transferred the fag to his other hand to snuff out the used up bit of shit.

"Your willingness to cooperate is appreciated, 'Big Brother Jiro'," thanked Hakkai. "And yours, too, 'Little Sister Sayuri'." Ana made a ridiculous face – which included a wrinkled nose and crinkled brow – at him which made him chuckle.

"What I'm worried about," Sanzo said with an annoyed tone, "is if _Jiro_ here can keep himself from nibbling on anything with girl parts?"

"Hey! I have refined and discriminating tastes, jerkwad!" snarled Gojyo, upset when Ana won the round and got two matches from each of them as well as her own two back even as she shuddered in disgust.

"Please don't bring up his little 'ventures'…" she asked, quoting the air around the word 'ventures'. "I'm a sweet and innocent girl—"

"Yeah right," snorted Gojyo. "You're as bad as they come seeing as you have a taste for priests."

"Shut up. You're disgusting," she spat, arching her back against Sanzo's arm, forcing the man to grunt slightly in annoyance.

"Mmm! That lady's cookin' was really good," commented Goku. "but I'm still hungry, y'know? Man…"

Hakkai chuckled, unaware of the distress they were causing their eavesdropper. "Just please don't eat us if you don't mind."

"Let's go again," Ana said.

"I'm shuffling the deck this time," Gojyo said, not liking the fact that Ana had won. He was supposed to be a card shark, dammit!

"Fine."

They played another round, Ana winning yet again. And again… And again… Goku won twice during their games and Gojyo three times. But Ana, out of all of them, was doing the best.

"Have you been learning from him?!" demanded Gojyo as he pointed a finger at Hakkai, getting frustrated that Ana kept winning.

"Learning what?" asked the two in unison.

"How to play cards!"

"No…" Ana said slowly as she blinked at him. "Tim did. He taught me all the finer points of gambling games, including how to bluff. This is actually the first time I've ever really played poker."

"Yet you know the rules…" Gojyo said sourly.

"The hands are just like Yatzee. It isn't that hard to figure out."

"Yatzee?" asked Goku.

"Dice game," explained Ana. "Imagine poker only with dice instead, and you count points instead of making bets every hand. And the highest scoring hand is actually a 'Yatzee', or all five dice read the same number. You can do straights, but there's no flushes as there aren't any suits with dice."

"Oh," said Goku, not really understanding but having a small idea.

"Let's keep going!" Gojyo said, frustrated still.

Ana rolled her eyes and allowed the kappa to shuffle the cards and after they had played yet another hand, Ana winning by bluffing on a trio of twos when Gojyo had better on a trio of fours. Goku had jack shit.

When she was paid up with her pile of matchsticks growing bigger, Gojyo snatched the cards out of her hands even as she yelped out a protest. "Three twos! Three twos! I demand those matchsticks."

"No, we all agreed I won," Ana glared.

Sanzo lost his temper at that point.

"The three of you shut the hell up!" roared the priest, whipping his fan out of nowhere and hitting the two male backseat passengers. Ana was spared, though she was surprised he hadn't hit her. Gojyo and Goku yelped before falling silent like whipped dogs. Sanzo eyed Ana as if to dare her into making him hit her. Ana looked at him warily. The priest settled down, letting his girlfriend touch him even in the presence of the others.

Now that it was quiet, they heard voices out in the hall. They grew louder and more worried. Hakkai, curious as to what was going on, quietly slipped on his shades and drew up his hood when he approached the door, the others pulling their hoods up as well to help disguise their features.

He opened the door, the portal's gate sliding open with a slight creak to show a young girl standing with her back to the door and two older men, one perhaps related to her. "Is something wrong?" he asked. The youkai was further startled when the young girl pushed him aside to look into the room. "Ah!" he yipped slightly. "Excuse me?"

The others, seeing the movement, jerked their concealment into place. Goku, brilliant as he was, was blocking his face with a pillow. Gojyo was more casual about it and just shifted his head to be halfway blocked by the cloak's hood. Ana's right hand was covering the upper part of her face and most of her nose, her middle and ring fingers slightly splayed so she could see through them and to the girl that she had seen earlier. Sanzo had pulled the cloak up as well, covering most of his lower face while his bangs concealed more of his upper.

"Huh?" uttered an obviously bewildered girl. "But…"

Her distress was clear. Goku carefully looked around the pillow, still incapable of really seeing anything unless he lowered it. "Huh?"

"Wh-where's onee-chan?" asked the girl. She looked around again as if she could find her sister. "I thought you guys were the youkai!"

"…What are you talking about?" demanded Sanzo.

"There have been youkai attacks on our town recently. Young women turn up dead and partially eaten," the older man said, wringing his hands. "Oh, Seira! Oh, my niece!"

"Well… this isn't good. Say we clear our names and go help that girl?" asked Ana, glancing at Sanzo out of the corner of her eye. Sanzo grunted in affirmation and immediately stood, not caring if he left his shades behind for the moment. Ana didn't bother grabbing them either, but she made sure her hood was in place. Gojyo, like a nimrod, went ahead and grabbed his shades and slid them on. Naturally, Goku wound up mimicking him. Hakkai already had his on, but he discarded them in lieu of the monocle.

"Let's go," Hakkai said softly. "And we'll see about bringing your niece back, sir," he calmly told the man.

"Thank you," said the worried old man. "Thank you."

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" the child said. They glanced at each other, not wanting to take the time to argue about it.

"Fine," said Ana, grabbing the little girl up, surprised by the weight the child had. "But you do exactly what we tell you to do, got it?" The girl nodded mutely. "What's your name?" asked Ana even as they got into Jeep outside.

"Seika," she said softly.

"Oh, good. I thought it would be hard to remember," sighed Ana as they took off. "Guys, meet Seika."

Gojyo just snorted in amusement and Goku's eyes danced, but none of them said a word as they zoomed off to the outskirts of town where Seika said that they had found the bodies of the women near.

All too soon, they heard a female scream of 'no', which caused Seika to clench at Ana's arm hard. The girl seemed to find comfort in Ana's presence, something Ana couldn't understand why as she had been the youngest and was always spoiled rotten because of it.

"Seira!" she cried out even as Hakkai stopped Hakuryuu.

"Stay here," ordered Sanzo as they barreled out of the car, Gojyo first. The kappa saw the trio of men and the form of what could only be Seira on the ground before them, a man forcing himself down on her. He didn't put any more thought into the situation, knowing that the quips would come soon enough. He launched himself foot first and kicked the guy on top of her off. The man toppled back, grunting with pain even as Gojyo hit the ground square on his feet, looking totally cool as he did so.

Seira looked up, wide eyed, at Gojyo, disbelieving he was there even as the first quip came tumbling from his lips. "Don't you know you should never force a lady?" He was angry that they'd scared her and probably hurt her. "You've got real rocks, asswipes," he commented balefully.

"Who th' hell're you?!" demanded one of the thugs. "Stay out of our—" The statement cut off and became shock as Goku dropped down in front of Gojyo and then kicking one of the other two, knocking him flat on the ground.

"You're framin' youkai? That's dirty, scuzzbags!"

"I so agree," snapped out Ana as she got the last with a mere tap of her hand, laying him out flat from the shock to his system.

Despite what she had been ordered to do by the others, Seika jumped out of the car and went to her sister. "Onee-chan!"

"Seika!" exclaimed a shocked and horrified Seira. "What are you doing here?!" she demanded, wanting to protect her sister more than herself. "And why did you bring…"

What she said was lost underneath the shout of the man that Gojyo had knocked back. "You pricks've screwed up the wrong tree! We'll kill you bastards and keep your little whore for us!"

"Oh, no, he did not just say that!" snarled Ana even as the man lunged forward towards Sanzo with a wild cry.

Sanzo had said something, lost to the sound of the inarticulate yell. The man swiped at the priest with a knife, Sanzo barely dodging but lust part of his cloak in the process.

"Huh?" gasped the man, shocked when a barrel of a gun was pointed at his head.

"Didn't you hear me?" asked Sanzo even as the hood fell back, revealing his golden blonde hair and very intense violet eyes. The man didn't make a move for he feared getting shot. Sanzo then said ominous words even as the fabric that had concealed his outfit slid to the ground. "I said I was going to make you _dead_."

"Ooh… Makes me wanna jump him," chuckled Ana to herself. Goku snorted in amusement.

The man before the gun scrambled back with a strangled scream.

"Shit! Who… who are you?!" he cried out even as Seira and Seika stared in shock at the strange sight, not believing their eyes. The man that Seika had thought to be youkai was garbed as a priest!

"No way…" muttered one of the ones that Goku had gotten as Ana's was still twitching slightly from the small electrical surge. "You've gotta be kidding me! A blond monk with a silver gun. Five psychos ridin' in a jeep! That means—"

Cue dramatic removal of cloaks to reveal their regular clothes, including the shades that came off of Goku and Gojyo.

"I told you people this stupid disguise thing wouldn't work!" complained Ana, hands on her hips.

"Easy now, Ana-dono," calmed Hakkai. "So… now what should we do with these three?"

"Make 'em flat!" Goku said, punching a fist into an open palm with a satisfying smack.

"Torture them slowly for calling me a whore!" spat Ana.

"Kill them," Sanzo said, picking at an ear, no happier than Ana for the fact she had been called a whore. "Kill them and kill them fast."

"Whatever, so long as it's now," Gojyo grinned, deeming it good to let the truth be confirmed. "I don't like dealing with a tired _and_ cranky _Sanzo_."

Cat out of the bag, everyone that wasn't of the Ikkou gasped like expected in a very satisfactory manner to the kappa.

The trio of rapists gasped in shock, scuffled backwards, shouted in horror "Priest Sanzo and his cohort!" At that, they picked up the less-than-capable of moving member of their team and ran into the night, never to be heard from again in that small town.

* * *

They got back to town and collapsed in bed. However, Seika and Seira both had other plans and spent the night spreading the word that Sanzo and company was in town. The entire village became teeming with life as they bustled to welcome the priest properly. No one ever thought as to why the group had planned to quietly enter the village and leave again. Seika was especially adamant about telling how Sanzo and his friends had saved her sister and told it to many of the children that wished to hear it over and over. She enjoyed telling them that she even got to ride in their Jeep and that Sanzo had spoken directly to her. She gained a small celebrity status through her machinations.

By the time the group was alive enough to face the day and hopefully gather supplies so that they could continue on West, the entire town had the word 'Sanzo' placed with nearly every other word.

And when they came downstairs, they were more than disappointed to see a mass of people waiting to greet them and ogle them.

"So much for anonymity," muttered Ana to herself as she eyed the group.

"Priest Sanzo," Seira said very respectfully as she came up to them. With a slight bow, she gestured to a table laden with food, from which the people concealing it retreated and revealed the spread. "If you would please be so kind..."

It must be noted that Sanzo clamped a disbelieving hand over his face as if to shield the idiotic happenings from him by concealing part of his face.

"Wow…" commented Goku, beginning to drool. The rest of them looked rather dumbstruck. "Check out th' spread."

"They even managed a sign…" deadpanned Ana, her eyes flicking over the Chinese characters in slight distaste. _'Sanzo & friends… Why does that offend me?'_

"Please accept this small token of our appreciation from our town, Priest Sanzo," said some random woman. "We hope it will come close to meeting your most sophisticated taste."

At this point, Gojyo snorted in a highly amused manner.

"Cat's out of the goddamn bag," muttered Sanzo, Ana having scooted forward to stand next to him and eyeballing the young women in the crowd that seemed to be taken with the priest's looks. She kindly gave them a dark look.

"All this food's for us?!" asked Goku excitedly, starting forward. "Real-ee!" His question was cut short when fan met cranium, forcing down his head.

"Thank you, but no," Sanzo told the group, who seemed slightly shocked that he had hit his own friend, but then attributed it to Goku being a disciple or something of that nature that just got reprimanded. "We're in a hurry to move on. I don't know what kind of rumors you've been hearing…" Here, he paused and delivered the words that would hurt them more than anything else. "…But there's nothing we can do for you and have no obligation to stay." The priest turned on heel with the others close behind him or next to him. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll be leaving."

"Hey!" shouted Seika, shocked by this cold delivery, as she darted forward. "Wait!" Her small hand grabbed the sleeve of Sanzo's robe, making Sanzo stop even though he could have just pulled out of her grasp with ease. "Um… I'm sorry," she apologized, tears burning in her eyes. "You're mad at me 'cause I thought you were the youkai, right? I'm sorry!" She hiccupped. "You saved my sister! I-I just wanna thank you!"

Silent was those in the room until Ana broke it. "I guess we could stay for a little bit," she offered. "What do you say, Sanzo?"

"…Feh," sighed the priest, disliking that he just got outvoted when he was trying to seem cold and uncaring. He grabbed the chair and slid it out so he could have a seat. "No," he admitted. "I'm not… _mad_."

"More like annoyed at the delay," Ana muttered to him as the happiness to the fact they were accepting the feast brought back the chatter in the room. She sat down to the right of him, forcing the others to choose other spots, Goku and Gojyo forced to take the same side as Hakkai sat opposite of Sanzo.

As Gojyo went to his seat, he muttered to Sanzo, "Why would you be mad? We _are_ youkai. Heh!" He snorted in amusement.

"Speak for yourself," both Sanzo and Ana mouthed at the same time.

Without further ado, Goku dove into the meal, shoveling the first thing he could get right into his mouth. His exuberant shout of "This is sooooo good!" caused Seira to chuckle.

"Have as much as you'd like!" she told him.

Ana happily ate the food, daring to snitch things from Goku's grasp at times, teasing him. The rest ate as well. Hakkai overheard some of the villagers speak in obvious relief. "We've got nothing to be afraid of while Sanzo's here. What luck!"

The youkai chose to speak. "This town is on a sort of youkai alert, am I right?" he queried. "Have you hade any problems with youkai before?"

"Well, no," admitted a woman. "Not exactly. We thought the recent murders were youkai, but they turned out not to be."

"Is that right?" he pushed. "No problems at all?"

"Not here," agreed a man standing next to the woman. "But we've been hearing about the attacks on other towns." The man's hand slipped into the woman's and squeezed it nervously even as his wife spoke. "We've been really worried. The mothers in town can't sleep at night, you know?"

Even as this was said, the group twitched almost all at once, feeling the ominous presence of malicious youki. As one, they all stood, startling the villagers.

"Priest Sanzo?" asked one, not understanding why the group seemed so anxious to leave the half-finished feast.

"Thank you for the hospitality. _Now_ we are leaving," Sanzo said as they all headed to the door.

"Huh?" Seika said, totally baffled.

"Sorry for leavin' leftovers!" Goku said, trying to keep the girl calm.

"Yeah, on a good day, there'd be none!" laughed Ana, though her face contained little merriment.

"B-but wait!" she called even as the other villagers called out to them. "Where are you going?!"

"Anywhere but here," Gojyo said, not glancing over his shoulder.

"Why?!" Seira said, feeling a keen sense of loss as her saviors walked away from her.

"I'd suggest going home and locking your doors," Hakkai told them, his face grave.

"We can feel a whole lotta youkai coming this way," Gojyo informed them.

That immediately began a ruckus. "Wha?! So we are in danger!"

"Wait, Priest Sanzo!" called one. "If youkai are coming, why are you leaving town?!" cried another. "Please get rid of them! We're begging you!" "Priest—"

"Shut it," came Sanzo's flat voice. Silence fell. "Your populace is more than slightly obsessed. This youkai fetish is going to drive you all insane." He fixed them with a harsh amethyst glare. "And I already told you the rumors are wrong."

"Huh? What do you mean?" ventured a brave soul.

"Sanzo…" murmured Hakkai.

"Nngh," muttered the priest in acknowledgement. They were here. He lifted his voice even as the others conjured their weapons and Ana drew her knife. He himself drew his pistol. "Here's something worth knowing. We're not traveling around and exterminating youkai." Dark, cruel shapes lunged down off the rooftops, crying out various phrases even as Sanzo gave his last words before this fight. "The youkai are coming after _us_."

At the sight of the youkai, the people recoiled and some ran screaming away, bolting towards their homes for the relative safety as none of the youkai were interested in them but in the five that they sought.

"Hya ha ha ha!" chortled a demon. "It's Genjyo Sanzo! We've been looking for you, you holy pile of shit!"

"Kill them!" roared another and the rest took up the battle cry. "Get the sutra!" he cried even as one launched himself forward shouting "Kill them!"

"Ki—"

The battle cry was cut short as Shakujou's crescent blade split the air and the youkai, causing a bloody rain around the group. As body parts hit the ground, some of the surviving youkai screamed in agony at the loss of a limb or two. The shock of losing so much blood killed them moments later.

The blade whirled back to meet the staff as the chain retracted within it. "Bring it, pissants!" Gojyo said, relishing in the thought of being able to fight again.

At the sight of blood, even more of the villagers ran away, frightened as much by Sanzo and his friends casual slaughter as they were of the youkai. Two of the last to witness the fight was Seira and her little sister Seika. Seika was horrified as she watched the people she thought were great and wonderful people tear into the youkai. She was shocked when a crackling of lightning and the smell of ozone filled the air as the girl who had done nothing more than draw a knife in visible preparation zapped youkai, making them hit the ground and twitching in pain and electrical shock.

Goku whirled Nyoi-Bo and shouted to the last of the villagers who remained. "D'ya get it now? Wherever we wanna go…" He brought his staff to bear onthree youkai as he whipped it around and caught all three with a single harsh blow. "…Stupid youkai always show up to ruin th' party!" he finished. His 'ruining the party' line was ruined horribly by his large grin marring his face. He was enjoying himself, quite obviously.

"Kill them!" cried out a desperate youkai, as if that would help him and his friends take out the demon slaying bunch. The true demon slayer of the party had his own grin on, though it was fixed. Such an expression disconcerted the youkai that saw it, making them falter, wondering what the youkai had up his sleeve.

"But it _has_ been a while," mused Hakkai as he showed exactly what he had up his sleeve. For one demon, the green-eyed man had an elbow to the jaw. As he drew his hands back, he revealed he had a chi blast up the other as he charged said blast. "Since we've fought such a large group, that is," he continued. As he finished the line, he threw the blast and took out another three.

"Doesn't make it any more fun, though!" remarked Ana as she popped a demon in the jaw with, for the moment, an uncharged fist. As the demon staggered back, she pulled a follow-up, and slit him across the belly with the knife in a mostly lateral motion. The demon screamed as he fell back, his innards sliding out. "Ew… didn't expect that," she commented as she turned to the next.

"Heh," snorted Gojyo in amusement, obstinately ignoring the sound of gunshots, death cries, chi blasts, and the zap of lightning for his own menagerie of slice and dice. "Whatever, we need the exercise. Last thing I want…" The blade retracted back to the staff so he could use it again. "…Is to lose this killer body."

He found himself backed against Sanzo as the man was reloading, enough chaos in the area to prevent him from being attacked immediately. "Right?" he demanded of Sanzo. "'Dear brother Taro'?"

Sanzo flicked his hand, closing the barrel back. "Hn," he snorted in utter un-amusement and lifted the gun again. "Forget your body. You need to exercise the fat between your ears." Within two shots, two youkai dropped to the ground to never stir again.

He felt the slight tug on his sutra and whipped around to see a youkai trying to filch it. "Dammit!" he swore and swung his arm back to catch the demon full under the chin with the butt of his gun. The demon hit the dirt once again and Sanzo planted an irritated foot on top of his head, eliciting a yelp of discomfort and fear from the monster.

"You're just saying that because you're soft between the legs, Sanzo-sama," Gojyo jeered.

"Hey!" protested Ana. "You perverted cockroach! You don't know a damned thing!"

"Ah ha ha!" laughed Hakkai. "I'm starting to see that death wish Sanzo's always talking about, Gojyo. You know better than to rile Ana!"

"Damn straight!" barked out the lone girl of the group.

"Speaking of a death wish…" laughed Goku, enjoying the quips throughout the battle. "…These guys're just linin' up beggin' to die!"

"Ha ha!" laughed Gojyo, putting some distance between him and the fierce couple he had just insulted one half of. "You got that right!"

The few that had yet to join the fight had pretty much lost interest. "There's n-no way we can win this one," gasped one. "Goddammit!" snarled another. "They're youkai-massacring devils incarnate! Screw the Sanzo party!" They didn't get much more chance to chat as two shadows of death bore down on them in the forms of Ana and Goku. Before they knew what was happening in their heart of hearts, they were dead and ascending to the plain that would judge their souls.

Unbeknownst to the five fighting, Seika was frozen, her limbs not comprehending her situation enough to lift her to her feet and get her clear. Seira was trying to get the girl to get up, but it wasn't working and the older girl wasn't strong enough to carry her younger sister any distance as Seika was too big.

Also unbeknownst to the group, a youkai that they had not yet killed for they had accidentally knocked him out and didn't know that was all they had done (courtesy of Goku).

Speaking of Goku, he joyfully commented, "These are th' last of 'em. Bye-bye, uglies!"

Now that it was quiet and there weren't any more youkai that they could see stirring, though the demon that they had missed was putting his plan into action.

"That was an awful lot, wouldn't you say?" asked Hakkai.

"Townspeople shouting 'Sanzo' at the top of their lungs doesn't exactly stave off the masses," Sanzo commented sourly as he surveyed the condition of his gun, quietly mourning the loss of bullets.

"I'm just glad that they weren't anything badass enough to get us hard," Ana said absently as she wiped her blade on a clean spot on some random youkai's shirt. Sheathing it back onto her hip, she then tugged at her wrappings and looked up around the town.

It was eerily quiet and they could see the shadows of people watching them from several homes close enough to be viewed. "Guess the people're scared," commented Goku.

"We're creepier than the youkai," Gojyo snorted in sour amusement. "Not that I really blame them with this body count," he added, kicking a corpse that had been fried by Ana.

"Leave that alone. We don't do barbequed youkai," snorted the young woman, releasing her grip on the wraps and noted then small drops of blood that had touched them. "Yech."

Suddenly the air was split with a terrified scream and they all whipped around in the direction it came from. "Seika!" shouted the recognizable voice of Seira. They saw her a moment later as they heard Seika's voice. "Onee-chan!" she squealed in fear.

Above them, they saw a demon holding the girl firmly by her small wrists with one hand. "Bwa ha ha ha!" laughed the creature. "How about this, you crazy bastards!" he shouted to them. "The tables have turned! Hand over the sutra nice and slow!"

"Onee-chan! Help me!"

"Seika!" cried the horrified sister. "Please, let Seika go!"

"Aw, man," whined the kappa. "There's always some dipshit…"

He trailed off even as Hakkai spoke. "Now, Gojyo—Lets' not go and replace tact with honesty."

"Hey!" shouted the demon, angered that they weren't taking him seriously. Seika's cries momentarily stopped as she realized they weren't even taking the situation seriously. At least on the surface, though she didn't know that, they were always jokers, but they never took anything truly lightly unless it was making light fun of each other.

"Like _one_ of you has a chance when a whole mob failed," Sanzo said blithely. "Look, we don't give a damn about the kid."

That threw the demon… "Wha?" he uttered.

And angered the 'kid'. "You… You stink!" she shouted, angered that the 'Great Sanzo' was a terrible and scary man. "I hate Priest Sanzo! It doesn't matter what people say—He doesn't help anybody!"

"Finally someone gets it. I never became a Sanzo to help people," said the irritable priest.

"I protest," murmured Ana loud enough for them to hear her on the ground but not up on the building. Seira cast a shocked glance at the lot of them, horrified that they were just chatting away, not realizing they were formulating a plot to get the girl back without having to surrender a thing.

"Really?" teased Gojyo without much humor before raising his voice slightly more. "But that doesn't mean we're not in the market for fights."

"Stupid…" the irritated youkai growled before spitting out, "Fine, have it your way!" His back bulged and twisted before two black bat-like wings emerged. Seeing this new problem, Seika screamed anew.

"Holy shit!" yelped Ana as Goku said in shock, "Ack! He's got wings?!"

"Hmm… A versatile entertainer," deadpanned Sanzo.

"That sounds wrong… sorta," commented Ana after her initial shock.

Up above, the demon took off, flapping his wings a bit harder under the strain of carrying an extra burden. He laughed and called down to the group who was surprised yet unsurprised by the move. "Enjoy your freedom while you can—next time, I won't go so easy on you!" Seika screamed in his arms, terrified.

"Wait! He's just going to bail?!" demanded a pissed Gojyo.

"Jeep!" cried out Hakkai, calling the transformed dragon to them. The vehicle sped to them and they piled in hastily. "We can't let them leave town," Hakkai said to the others even as he engaged the gears.

"Damn straight!" huffed out Gojyo, keeping his eyes squared on the two in the sky. "He's already sold us a brawl. And we don't do refunds!" Tires spun and they belted after them.

"Why isn't there ever an easy fight?" sighed Ana.

"Because we're cursed," chirped Hakkai even though he was dead serious behind his mask.

"Bah, takin' a kid an' runnin'. Is he nuts?" asked Goku.

"Nuts or not, he's still getting away," Sanzo pointed out.

"Sanzo?" asked Hakkai, wanting to see if his idea of what should be done matched the priest's.

"Keep going, Hakkai. We need to narrow the gap… before I can take a shot."

They swerved around a corner, the street they were on not going in the same direction as their targets were.

Now that they were close enough, there were faint words from above, but they were ignored. Sanzo took his shot by calling up to her. "Jump!" he ordered. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to comprehend right away, so he shouted it again. "Jump!"

Up above, Seika bit into the arm of the youkai, forcing him to release her in his shock and pain. And to their eyes, the two forms up above separated even as Goku threw himself out of the back at Sanzo's command and onto the ground, summoning Nyoi-bo as he did so. Planting one end of the staff into the ground, he cried out, "Extend, Nyoi-bo!" At that, he shot towards the sky even as the girl fell to the ground in a rather spectacular dive.

As the two crossed paths, Goku said to her, "I'll get 'im for ya."

Down on the ground, Hakkai shouted, "I'm backing up!" even as he shifted gears and shot backwards, swerving wildly as he tried to line up the car so that one of them could catch Seika.

The demon hung in the sky, watching those on the ground in shock at the crazy maneuvers even as Gojyo and Ana shouted for Hakkai to stop. Behind him, Goku used the last of his momentum to retract Nyoi-bo and slam it onto the idiot's head, slamming the fool into a nearby roof a second after Seika was caught.

Gojyo laughed in relief even as Seika was cradled between Ana and Gojyo. "Good work, kid," he said to her.

"You're not hurt, are you?" asked Ana, brushing a few stray strands from Seika's face. Seika shook her head 'no'.

Seika's assailant fell off the roof and kissed the dirt. He lifted his face up as he gasped for air. "D-dammit," he spat.

"Wow… this one's got more persistence than a cockroach," said Ana, noticing the movement of the idiot.

"What? He's still alive?" Goku said, surprised. He had hit him hard enough.

"Uh, huh."

"Good," Sanzo said as they all climbed out of the car sans Seika. "He didn't earn a quick and easy death."

The demon looked up in horror and apprehension, desperate to make one last plea. "But… why're you guys always fighting youkai?! We know you're all part youkai!"

There was a twitch of surprise from Seika in the Jeep, but it went unnoticed.

"_I'm_ not," grated out Sanzo as Ana nodded sharply in agreement.

"Me neither," she bit out.

"That's the second time today!" Hakkai cheerfully commented.

Unknowing of the slight he had just caused two of the ikkou members, the youkai went on. "Come on, think for a second! Youkai are smarter and stronger than humans, so why side with the inferior race?"

That brought Hakkai's attention to bear on him. "Inferior race?" he queried before speaking in an enlightened tone. "Ah, I see. So what you're saying… is that a 'superior race' can still justify using a young girl as a hostage? And that _this_ is _smarter_ and _stronger_ than bravely diving from the sky?"

"Yes!" said the demon, warming to his topic and glad that they had 'perceived' his meaning. "So join the youkai! Your skills belong on the winning side!"

The five of them glanced at each other, not at all moved by the demon's little speech. To them, he was a fool and did not understand anything that they fought for.

"Hey. That sounds familiar," mused Gojyo. Ana perked up in interest.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, yeah!" chirruped Goku. "When was that? A loooong time ago!"

For a moment they paused, and a sinking feeling came into the youkai's heart though he couldn't quite identify its source at first.

Sanzo grinned slowly and murmured, "I've gotten this far on faith, haven't I?"

"Huh?" asked the demon. Now he understood the source of his inner despair as Sanzo lifted the gun and leveled it at the fool's head.

"…Right. Since the day I was born and until the day I die, you disgusting little wretch…" He paused and pulled the trigger right as he finished the line. "The only side I'm on is my own." With a final gunshot, the demon fell dead.

"Hum… I've heard that before," mused Ana, running a finger on her cheek. "I'm pretty sure one of you said it in the first ever volume of Saiyuki if I remember right."

"Really?" asked Hakkai, interested.

"Hn. Let's get the girl back to her sister and get the hell out of here. We can discuss other worlds once we leave," ordered Sanzo.

"Right-o, boss!" saluted Ana before they went back to the Jeep. Seika scrambled back and allowed the five to enter the vehicle.

"What now?"

"We take you to Seira, okay?" Ana offered as Hakkai zoomed to the center of town where people had emerged and Seira waited, frantic.

As soon as they deposited their load, glad that they had packed before they had fought the youkai, and she ran to her sister, they shifted into gear and drove out of town, ignoring the sound of cold words coming in way of thanks to them. The villagers cursed them having come.

Unknown to them, however, was the true gratitude of one pair of siblings with the knowledge that even though Sanzo and his friends didn't come to save their town, at least they protected them from destruction when they came…

* * *

Out on the road, under the growing sunset, Gojyo gazed at the orange sky, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Hey," he said to the group. "Don't get me wrong—I realize the importance of a classy exit and all. But it's almost dark. Tell me we're not camping out again."

"I'm sorry, Gojyo," Hakkai said, glancing around behind him before looking back at the road. "Our map says we're three days from the next town."

"Three days?!" cried out Gojyo, lunging forward to see if this was indeed true and Hakkai wasn't just shitting him. He wasn't the only one.

"But what about food?!" demanded Goku of Hakkai. "Food food food?!"

"Yes," agreed Hakkai. "Perhaps we should've bought groceries before we left."

"Screw the damn food!" protested Gojyo, pushing Goku back. "Whab about booze? And cigarettes?!"

"Whaddaya mean 'screw the food'?! What're you gonna do if I starve to death?!"

"Like I care! Go on and die!"

Ana watched them in shock before turning to Hakkai. "And what exactly do we have left, Hakkai?" she asked very carefully.

"I'm afraid we have only one small meal left, and it deals with Spam and bread…" He trailed off.

"No way!" yelped Ana, not liking the looks of this at all. "Please tell me you messed up on the map! Please tell me there's a closer town!!"

"I'm quite sorry, but the nearest town is indeed three days away…"

"But only one meal?" pleaded Goku, asking for it to not be true.

"And no cigarettes or booze?" Gojyo asked in a manner that begged for it to be otherwise.

"Spam?" Ana added, looking mightily depressed and upset.

Sanzo, by this time, had had enough of the constant needling and begging and pleading and fighting. He spun around as he stood and his gun appeared in his hand. "Shut up!" he shouted at them, forcing them to cower as he leveled the gun square at them. "Either your arguing stops instantly or you three'll be pissing lead!"

"Aargh!" yelped Gojyo. "He can't miss us from that close!"

"Sorry!" Ana cried out.

Sanzo put the gun away and started to settle back down when Goku opened his mouth. "Um… I'm hungry…"

With that, Sanzo didn't pull out his gun but rather his fan and smacked the chimp on the head as a warning to all three that any more shenanigans would get them even more seriously hurt. It earned him a yelp from the offended party.

After that, at least for the time being, everything settled down in the car and they continued driving into the sunset.

* * *

**MANGA CHAPTERS COMPLETED:**

_Volume 1: Extra Manga: "Let's Change Clothes"_

_Volume 1: Act 1: Run_


	3. Chapter II: Someday

**Disclaimer:** I have yet to own Saiyuki. Until the day I do, I will continue saying it belongs to Minekura.

* * *

**Reviewers:** Thank you to all reviewers: TheDemonMistress, DustBunnyQueen, White Fire Alchemist, Patriot16, cheeky half-demon, invisible-gurl, joycer22, Miorochi, silver-eyed, AmY-DyLaN-SoHiA-aNiKi, kura-wolfgoddess, BlueStocking, pegasusvalkyrie, Wandering Hitokiri.

**General Responses:**

Here's the next chappie, headed by one of my favorite rock bands, Nickelback.

I had a question from BlueStocking. What did 'little yellow bus special' mean? Simple enough. It's one of the several idioms that I have picked up. What it means is simply that the person on the little yellow bus is typically learning challenged. It's a bad, tasteless joke, but it is one that I use to tease people who are being silly (I've been called this before, as well, when I've been outrageously stupid).

To all else, thank you again for reading my story. I'm glad it makes you laugh. This one, on the other hand, might make you sad at some points. It certainly did me. Though there are funny parts, too.

* * *

**Chapter II: Someday**

_Well I'd hope that since we're here anyway  
That we could end up saying  
Things we've always needed to say  
So we could end up staying  
Now the story's played out like this  
Just like a paperback novel  
Let's rewrite an ending that fits  
Instead of a Hollywood horror_

_Nickelback_

They arrived in the next town half starved and ready to kill a serious haunch of meat and vegetables. First, however, they got a hotel room and that in and of itself was a bit of a show…

"Would a room for three and one with a double bed work just fine?" asked the receptionist as he looked over the registry. "Otherwise, we're full. I'm sorry."

That pronouncement was met with a slightly stunned silence before everyone looked at Sanzo with questioning gazes. The priest considered it. "Are there any other inns in town?" he asked.

"No, actually," the man said in an apologetic tone.

"We'll take it," replied Sanzo and at that moment the discussion of who was sleeping with who filled the air between them as they were escorted upstairs.

"There's no way in hell I'm sleeping with the chimp!"

"Like I wanna sleep with you, kappa!"

"Oh, my."

"You know… this would be so much easier if they realized they were not going to be sharing the double bed," Ana said placidly to Sanzo. The priest rolled his eyes skyward as if to ask for some kind of patience to deal with Ana and her… easily-interpreted-as-saucy remarks. "What?" she asked, seeing the move.

Once they reached the rooms, the receptionist left them and they placed their belongings in the rooms. Hakkai, Goku, and Gojyo shared the room with the three beds and just across the hall was the room with one double bed in which Ana and Sanzo decided to share.

After that, they went to eat lunch. As all reading this knows what usually happens during a meal with the Ikkou, it will be skipped for once.

* * *

They returned back to their rooms and split up between them. Goku looked like he wanted to hang out with Ana and Sanzo, but the look on Sanzo's face when he tried to do so was venomous at best, deadly at worst. So he meekly went with Hakkai and Gojyo instead of getting to hang out with his two favorite people.

As soon as the door was closed and locked to the outside world, Sanzo felt Ana's hands on him. They hadn't had much opportunity for alone time during the past three days as all of them were so hungry they felt sick. It left them weak and cranky and very much glad that there were no attacks during those three days. Who knows? Maybe the youkai would have won.

His hand left the knob on the door and touched hers, their fingers intertwining as she nuzzled at his back and peppered it with small kisses through the fabric concealing it from her. The touch of her lips were nearly lost to him as the pressure barely transmitted through the fabric. She whispered his name into his back and shivered as he did. He turned, disentangling his fingers from hers before doing so, and then brought her flush against him.

That was the moment he let his shields down. His amethyst eyes melted into warm pools of violet and she nearly lost her balance and would have likely fallen if he hadn't have been keeping her to him.

He brought his face down to her upturned one and brushed his lips over hers before shifting to the jaw line like she had done before to him. Each time they interacted, it seemed, he picked up something that she did to him and integrated it into his own little arsenal of tricks to use when they came back together. Sanzo had figured out that she did things that she liked when she had done this to him and he had tried it on her. Just like the first time, she buried her face into the crook of his neck and pulled at the fabric with her teeth, occasionally catching his skin underneath.

His own mouth trailed to her ear, though it was slightly awkward to get to, and his hands rubbed circles down her back. He shuddered as she murmured his name into his neck and found himself working free of his clothing with her help. The outer robe and guise of a Sanzo Priest fell away and all that was left was the tight shirt that fit like a second skin, gloves, his jeans, and his boots.

Absently, as soon as he was freed, he stepped away from the pool of cloth, guiding her backwards to that lovely and very much inviting bed. As he went, he tugged at the silk hand wraps and soon they slithered down her arms like ribbon unwinding from a spool, the soft sound of fabric lilting through the air ever so slightly.

By this point, their breathing was less measured and steady and when her knees caught against the bed, Ana gasped in surprise and would have fallen down to completely lose her breath but Sanzo caught her and lowered her more gently. Instincts gripped them both and both were consumed by nothing more than the other person.

Ana's quick thief fingers tugged at Sanzo's gloves and he allowed them to be loosened and pulled off, only lifting his hands off Ana to completely flick them free when they came down to his wrists.

An aching passion was between them and it drove them to touch and explore more than they would allow themselves in the relative privacy of the woods beyond the circle of firelight when they were out of doors. Both of them vibrated with it and Ana realized she was gaining a need for him. And she couldn't help but groan out his name when he instinctively ground against her. It was very obvious he was in need her as well. They were getting closer and closer to the precipice and her hands tensed slightly when he was driven to the point of pulling at the buttons on her shorts.

She tensed further and pushed his chest. Sanzo lifted away, his eyes curious and hurt. "I can't…" she said. "Not yet. I'm… nervous." Ana's eyes were lowered slightly. "I'm sorry. Not further… okay?" She knew she was making lame excuses and was so totally pathetic. Her words were slightly babbled as she spoke.

A roughened hand lifted her chin and shifted her head. Before she could shift her head away again, velvet lips captured hers and soon the two of them were continuing their bout of cuddles but without the ferocity of before. "Ana," murmured her love against her skin before doing something that left her wide eyed.

Sanzo rolled her over on top of him and she looked down at him in surprise, her legs straddling him. Slowly a grin slid over her face. "Oh, you're good," she complimented.

"I'm glad you think so," he replied before one hand came up to tangle in her hair and drag her head down to his so that their lips could meet. She gave in quite easily.

* * *

In the next room, Gojyo, Goku, and Hakkai were lounging about. "Should we wait for Sanzo and Ana-chan?" asked Goku, his tummy growling. "I'm hungry."

Hakkai considered it even as Gojyo said to just leave them. "I suppose we should. They've not really had much time to be alone for a while now, what with us being all out in the woods and everything. Besides, we have just eaten and we need to get supplies and restock."

"Aw," whined Goku. "Can we get some gyouza while we're out?"

"Shut up, monkey. Hakkai's right. We just ate."

"You shut up!"

"Now, now, you two." Hakkai was very tempted to say 'children' instead of 'you two'. They certainly did fight like them. "Let's not fight."

"Fat chance," muttered Gojyo.

"Care to repeat that?" asked Hakkai, his smile chill.

"No," Gojyo said sullenly.

"Good!" Hakkai's chilly smile went to 'sunny Arctic' and Gojyo carefully avoided his eyes. "Glad we're getting along. Now, let's get going."

"Right, Hakkai!" chirped Goku, not daring to piss Hakkai off like Gojyo had just inadvertently done. He got up and warily watched the older youkai.

"Luckily I had the foresight to get the card from Sanzo before he and Ana-dono sequestered themselves in the other room," Hakkai said cheerfully. He held up the card in proof as he moved to the door.

Behind him, Gojyo and Goku came after him, not daring to irritate the youkai slayer any more than he already was. They knew he wanted them away from Sanzo and Ana so that they could have more privacy without any barging in on them.

While they were out, they learned that the only way to the west was over the looming mountains in the distance to the west. Otherwise, they'd have to spend months going around them instead. And months of time was something the Sanzo-ikkou couldn't afford. In contrast, it would only take them approximately a week to get over the mountains.

That was, if the snow didn't get them first.

The next morning they struck out once again and headed up the foothills of the mountains. It took them a bit to get past the foothills and into the mountains proper. And by the time they got halfway up the mountain, the seasons began to accelerate forward into fall and then winter. Evergreens populated the area and snow began to pervade. Soon, they had drug out their capes for warmth, though the cloth did little to help. Snow appeared on the ground as they trekked further and they had to stop and get out of Jeep because Jeep wasn't equipped for snow. Laden with their stuffs, they began to walk.

Ana realized after a while her arms and legs were warmer than they probably should have been, though they were still cold. She then remembered that her wraps were made of silk and that silk didn't breathe, thus trapping heat against her skin. It made her feel much better about all this cold, though she was still miserable.

The snow got deeper and their feet were soon disappearing into their tracks. The path behind them was visible due to the churned snow.

"It's cold," muttered Gojyo, his breath visible.

"Cooooold…" whined Ana, exhaling a long fume of warm wet breath from her mouth as she did so.

"Goodness, it's cold," agreed Hakkai, his cheerful smile concealing a great amount of worry. Hakuryuu under his cape kyuued mournfully in agreement as well.

"I'm cold!" shouted Goku. "Waaaah!"

"_Silence_. _Immediately_," ordered Sanzo, irritated by the continual reminder of pervasive cold.

"Hey! At least we agree!" protested Ana. "And I hate the cold!" She shuddered violently then as if her body agreed. When Sanzo shot her a cold look to match the chill, she hastily changed the subject. "You _sure_ this is the right way, Hakkai?"

"Please don't ask me that," begged the green-eyed demon. "The people in the village said we needed to cross these mountains in order to continue west…"

"Yeah. And they said there'd be snow. That's fine up until you see all of this!" Gojyo growled, gesturing underneath the cape to create a slight wing effect to indicate all the snow around them. "But this shit's fucking nuts!"

The only sound in the snowy world other than the crunch of their feet in the white substance was the sound of the wind in the trees. Everything else was muted by the fall of snow.

Goku saw a snowdrift and bounded feet first into it. "Hey!" he exclaimed, lifting his cloak. "Check it out! Th' snow's real deep here!" He played in it even as the others looked at him in disgust.

"At least Goku appears to have a high body temperature," commented Hakkai in a 'happy' manner.

"Y'know what they say about chimps and the outdoors," replied Gojyo even as they plowed on, forcing Goku to slog a little faster to catch up once he turned around. Sanzo, however, detoured as he was a little behind the others.

"I don't know," Ana said. When Gojyo started to tell her, she then said, "And I don't want to know because likely it'll be something perverted."

"Oi! Ana-kun!" said an 'injured' kappa.

Sanzo reached Goku and kicked the idiot in the ass, forcing him to go flying face first into the drift. "Stop fooling around," he bit out as Goku yelped in surprise. He picked himself up and shook out the snow as the falling precipitation got heavier and the wind grew stronger.

A couple minutes later, the light snowstorm had turned into a full blown blizzard.

"Great!" Gojyo shouted over the howling winds. "A blizzard, now?! We've gotta find an inn or something!"

Ana had decided to cling to the nearest person, which was Hakkai. The demon took her hand comfortingly and for safety reasons as well before shouting himself over the winds. "I heard that no one lives on this mountain!"

"Lemme take a wild guess why!" snarled back the scared kappa.

Close by, an arrow shunked into the snow and attracted Goku's attention to it. The others became quite aware of it soon after as two more arrows impacted the snow near their feet.

"Hey!" Goku said. "What the heck?!"

"What the hell would possess an assassin to come here?!" Sanzo growled worriedly over the winds.

"Wait a minute," Hakkai cautioned as he mentally swept the area with his senses. "I don't sense any youk—" He stepped back as a rock hit near his feet.

"First arrows, now rocks?" demanded Ana, not understanding even as Hakkai pulled her back.

"Up there!" pointed Goku, having scented out the 'assassin'. Up in a tree near them was a young child with a bow and arrow.

"Huh?"

"Go away!" the kid shouted. "You can't stay on our mountain!"

"That's a… kid," Gojyo said in disbelief.

"Careful, ya little brat!" shouted Goku up to the boy. "Ya almost hit us!"

"Shut up!" said the kid, firing off one more arrow with two others also firing from the shadows causing them all to flinch back and Goku to yip in protest. "We already told the people in the village not to come here!"

"What the hell's he talking about?" asked Gojyo, looking askance at Hakkai.

"I think he's mistaken us for someone else," Hakkai replied.

"Look, pipsqueak! We're not from no stinkin'—"

Gojyo was cut off by the kid and what was revealed to be a couple of his companions. "Shut up and go!" ordered one as another also shouted, "Go! _Now_!"

"Ideas, guys?" asked Ana, her wrist still trapped by Hakkai's hand.

"Just ignore them and keep going," Sanzo said for their marching orders.

"Fine," Gojyo muttered, his words lost in the wind as they trekked further up the slope.

What they didn't know was that they'd reached the top of a short precipice and were soon…

The ground collapsed underneath them and the five of them plummeted off the edge of the ridge, yelling in shock. They crashed into the earth at the base of the cliff, losing consciousness as snow half-buried them. At the top of the cliff, three children looked down in worry before dashing away.

Minutes later, the sound of footsteps could be heard crunching on the snow and black boots stepped onto the white powder near Sanzo's chilled hand. The one the feet belonged to observed the prone forms before saying to the windy snow… "Hunh…" He got to work digging them out one at a time, unearthing the Sanzo first and he twitched in surprise.

"Ain't that somethin' else?" he muttered, wondering why a Sanzo was up in the mountains. He knew he could carry two so he pulled Goku out of the snow as well and he started in surprise this time. "Definitely something else…" he continued, eyeing the power limiter encircling the monkey's brow.

He hefted the two of them and drug them into a furnished cave before depositing them onto bedrolls and venturing back out. Next was Ana and he frowned very hard when he pulled out Hakkai. Two humans and two youkai… three, judging by the red hair of the last one. He hefted the two bodies up and scooped up Hakuryuu up as an afterthought and deposited the load in his cave again. For the final trip, he pulled Gojyo out and brought him back as well. Once all the forms were settled, he shooed the few curious children away before removing his gear and revealing himself to be youkai. Stirring up the fire, he settled himself into a bit of a wait… not that there was much else to do as there was a blizzard outside.

* * *

After a few hours, the first of the ikkou stirred. Hakkai, who had always been a quick healer due to his high chi levels, found himself quite shocked to have been relocated into a cave after having been in the snow not too long ago according to his reckoning. He was further surprised when it was revealed that his rescuer was certainly not human. "Hello," said the youkai with a nod. "You guys took quite the tumble."

"Oh… you saved… us?" Hakkai's eyes scanned the room, seeing the rest still laid out.

"Yeah," chuckled the youkai.

"Thank you…" Hakkai shifted and brushed a hand over the closest forehead to him, which belonged to Gojyo. Though Gojyo was unconscious, he was definitely alive. Hakkai could sense the others were much the same as well. He saw Hakuryuu lying on the spot next to him on the pallet and lifted the small dragon into his lap.

"No problem." The demon said, stirring the stew over the fire that he had prepared some time ago during the boredom.

Gojyo stirred and opened his eyes to the ceiling of the cave. "Huh?"

"Morning!" chirped Hakkai, grinning. "Or is it afternoon? I really have no clue."

"Evening, actually," chuckled the demon. Gojyo shot up and looked at the guy.

"Who're you?" asked the kappa but was cut short as Ana groaned and rolled over in her typical fashion to roll out of bed. When all she did was roll off the pallet and onto her hands and knees, she looked blearily around as if to ask 'what?'

"Whazza'ell'appen'tame?" she said in fuzzy English, mashing all her words together into one. She got a series of three blank looks. "What?" she asked in Chinese, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she settled back to sit upright on her knees. When she cleared the gunk, she saw where she was. "Huh?"

"We were rescued by this gentleman, here."

"Oh… thanks," she aimed at the guy.

"Welcome," he said with a grin. She yawned expansively, barely covering her mouth with a hand and received a small pop from her jaw from her exertion. Ana looked over her shoulder and saw Goku laying behind he, sprawled out and snoring. O-kay. Near the youkai was Sanzo, still unconscious. She was half tempted to bury herself next to him and curl up and go back to sleep but she knew she shouldn't. She'd probably hibernate like a bear if she did so.

Instead she sat down between Gojyo and Hakkai, her legs crossed yoga style before raising her hands over her head and stretching. The demon watched the girl reposition herself with undisguised wonder at the fact that she'd trust herself to be between them. Or was foolish enough to sit between them.

He stirred the stew once and realized it was almost done. The fragrance of it permeated the air around them and smelled very good. Hakkai stroked the back of Hakuryuu absently but Ana's mute plea with large coffee brown eyes to hold the dragon forced him to relinquish him. Ana curled her arm around the still slumbering fuzz ball and lightly scratched at the place where his neck met his body. The dragon let out a soft sound kyuu in his slumber, no longer unconscious but rather sleeping normally. She grinned even as the demon shifted to check on Sanzo as Sanzo was closest.

The demon had the misfortune of being near a stirring Sanzo as the priest woke suddenly and reacted on instinct by pulling out his Smith & Wesson and pressing it onto the youkai's forehead with a dull chink of a hammer being pulled back and a fist holding the demon close.

"Woah, man," said a very shocked youkai. "You're quick," he complimented. "Whoo!"

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Sanzo, his eyes flat.

"You might wanna be nice, Sanzo. He saved us," Ana offered from across the small cavern.

His eyes flicked over to them and they lost some of the deadly look as he lowered his gun.

"That's some greeting," continued the youkai with a soft grin. "You're a pretty dangerous priest, aren't ya?" Sanzo diverted his attention away from the trio watching him with some apprehension though they were generally relaxed. He eyeballed the youkai close and the youkai gave a cheerful grin, trying to get on Sanzo's good side so that Sanzo wouldn't shoot him. One could practically see the characters for 'niko' over the youkai's head times two and would indeed see them if one observed the comic book's viewpoint. Sanzo stared him down for a moment longer before releasing the other's shirt with a disinterested grunt.

"I get it," said the priest. "A youkai not affected by the Minus Wave, right?"

"Yup," nodded the youkai. "That's about the size of it."

Ana took a moment to observe the youkai as the priest and the demon spoke to one another. He was fairly tall, but was about the same height as Sanzo. His hair was black and his ears were drawn into long, sharp points like every other youkai. His hair cut was spiky and wild, held back by a pair of brown snow goggles and the sideburns came down and then cut over his face, ending in a point on either cheek. The back part was a little longer but not so much as to be classified as a mullet. He wore a brownish puff vest over a cream shirt with a flame decal on one shoulder. His pants looked like standard Levi's in khaki. The kind that coal miners used to use. No doubt underneath his clothes were silk long johns. His feet were covered by dark brown snow boots, no doubt thick socks enclosing his feet for an extra layer of protection under the leather. She was suddenly struck by an image of another somehow similar face in similar wintery clothes from a place far, far away.

"I'm impressed they truly exist," Hakkai said, drawing Ana out of her observation mode. "I thought we were the only ones." The youkai began to ladle hot stew out of the pot and into a bowl.

"Hey, I was surprised to find you, too," admitted the demon. He held the bowl out to Ana… Ladies first after all… before beginning on the next. She took it, of course, and looked at it. Her stomach growled with the demand to eat as the smells coming from the beef and potato and whatever else had been scraped together hit her nose. The others got a bowl, also, until Sanzo was left as Goku still slept. "You gonna eat, priest?" asked the demon. "There's sake in the broth—even _you'll_ like it." Sanzo took the bowl reluctantly even as Ana gingerly lifted the bowl to her lips to take a sip of the broth.

"…How can you just relax?" asked Sanzo, glancing at his girlfriend as she hissed at the pain of her scalded tongue.

"Relaxing is all we can do right now," Hakkai said, gesturing to the 'door' of the cave, where the wind howled outside. Sanzo placed his bowl down and opened the stiff-with-cold leather out of the way to see a raging blizzard. "I guess you can see…"

"And this is why I stay in a semi-tropic climate. This lack of humidity kills me," Ana said, scratching at her dry skin. "Us Latino peoples need the wet heat or the dry heat. I prefer wet." She scratched harder at a particularly dry patch before Gojyo's hand stopped her from clawing.

"I guess it's because you'll mutilate yourself if you don't, huh?"

"Uh huh," agreed Ana, wishing she had some lotion as other places began to itch. Her form twitched in irritation before she started in on her upper left leg and the small of her back. Gojyo once again swatted at her hands.

"It's still nighttime," the demon said as he settled down with his own bowl as Sanzo lowered the flap. "But it'll stay like that until tomorrow. Just make yourselves at home," he offered.

"Thank you very much," Hakkai replied.

"Think nothin' of it," the demon said. Sanzo sat down and lifted his bowl, eyeing the bits in the juice.

"It's really good, Sanzo!" Ana said, polishing off her bowl. He grunted and as he took a bite of the stew, Ana shifted positions and circled the fire to sit next to him, a grin on her face. He internally mused that the flavor was indeed quite good.

"So you guys are travelers, right? No one from around here would hike up this far with clothes as thin as yours." He looked at Ana. "Especially shorts. You could have caught hypothermia."

"Silk saved my ass," she chuckled, tapping her right forearm with her left hand right on the wraps. He laughed also.

"Anyway, I'm sorry. For my kids attacking you and all."

Apparently saying the word 'kids' was a magical spell of some kind for behind Gojyo, even as he said "Kids? So those—" His words were cut off as a passel of kids tumbled from out behind a hide that separated two parts of the cave and attracted the attention of everyone. Sanzo, Hakkai, and Ana, who saw them first, stared in shock. "Wha? Shit!" yelped Gojyo as he realized he was surrounded with children. "Don't tell me all these are _yours_?!"

"Nah," laughed the demon. "I'm single. Apologize to the nice men and the lady, kids."

"We're sorry," echoed from a half dozen or so small mouths as a half-dozen or so small kids (truly there were seven total) bowed to the group. Sanzo stiffened in shock when he realized that they were all youkai children.

"They're all youkai?" Hakkai asked, shocked at the number of the children.

"Yeah," the youkai said sadly. "When the youkai started going berserk, some of the adults—but mostly the kids—held onto their sanity. I don't know if it's because they haven't fully matured as youkai or what. But around these parts, I'm the only grown-up left."

Ana listened as she grinned at a child and tickled her sides. Hakuryuu shifted away, sensing what was to come. The little girl squealed delightedly before twisting away and then jumping into Ana's lap. Soon a little older boy came over to join in and Ana had a full lap of two happy children. Sanzo watched them interact with his girlfriend even as he listened to what the demon said.

"These kids were left behind by their rampaging parents. They're orphans now, in a sense. I gathered 'em all together and brought them to live here. Anyway," continued the demon. "We're hiding out in this mountain to—"

He was cut off by a startled yelp as three boy youkai started to play with a once-sleeping and now wide-awake Goku. "What th' heck?!" yipped the chimp, his lap full of laughing kid. "Ow, ow, ow! Get off!" he yelped at the ones rolling on him and tugging lightly at his hair. "Don't pull that!" he said to another that was tugging on his cape.

The adult demon laughed heartily before offering a bit of information to Goku. "Anything on the floor's fair game for playtime."

"They're adorable!" laughed Ana, hugging the two 'bothering' her close, much to their delight.

"Ooh, a toy monkey. I like that," mused Gojyo, grinning as he was quite amused.

The ones tussling with Goku paused and one little blonde one pointed at Goku and asked, "Yakumo, are these people guests?"

"Yaki-imo?" asked Goku, also pausing.

Ana snerked.

"_Yakumo_," the demon now identified as Yakumo stressed.

As Goku was once re-occupied by the kids and Ana was letting her two pull off the wraps on her arms and play with them as long as they didn't burn them… Which resulted in the two getting their heads all 'bandaged up' with excess bagging around their shoulders, the conversation continued.

"Why are you guys up here anyway?" asked Yakumo.

"We're trying to find out how the Minus Wave came to be," answered Hakkai, seeing no need to conceal their purpose.

"And if possible, revert all the youkai back to the way they were," added Gojyo.

"You're looking for the cause of the calamity?" asked Yakumo, slightly disbelieving.

"Yes," reaffirmed Hakkai. "That is our goal, at least."

"Hunh," grunted Yakumo. "So if you find out who did all this, the youkai who went crazy might go back to normal. But would that really fix everything?"

"What d'ya mean?" asked Ana, looking up. Yakumo glanced at her.

"With all the things the youkai've done until now, I'm not sure the humans will forgive them," Yakumo said, pointing out something they had all thought about at one point or another. "That's a lot of fear and distrust to get over. It won't be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," Ana said, blinking owlishly as Sanzo puffed at his cigarette.

"You really think so?" asked Yakumo.

She gave him a bland look. "I know so," she said firmly. "Humans are imperfect, too, you know, 'cuz we can't love and be kind all the time. Selfishness is a big part of the human psyche."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about."

"It's what every Christian learns," she told him with a shrug. "We're not perfect. Adam and Eve ensured it by eating th' apple." Hakkai smiled as he remembered the orphanage and the teachings the sisters had imparted on him of the Christian religion. "Basic Sunday School one-oh-one."

"Hey!" called Goku, garnering attention to the fact he was getting 'mauled' by the kids. "Ossan! Do somethin' about th' little crazies!"

"Ossan, am I?" snorted Yakumo, amused. "Kids—The loud one says you aren't playing hard enough." A moment later, Goku was tackled and yelped as he was overwhelmed.

Ana let out a yip as the little boy pulled one of the longer locks of hair on her head. "Not for pulling!" she said, disentangling his little hand. "Okay, sweetheart?"

The boy pouted before going over to see about playing with Goku, though the teen didn't appreciate the added person to the mix.

"Heh, heh," Gojyo grinned. "Tykes gots ta play with other tykes, y'know." He felt tugging on his hair on either side of him and Ana burst out laughing as the little girl still in her lap giggled reflexively. "Wha?" He looked to the side and realized that his long red hair had been braided into two cords by two little girls, who were giggling as well, finishing off their 'masterpiece' with ribbons.

Goku managed to get up and howled with laughter. "That's so lame! You're pretty popular there, Gojyo!"

"Shut it!" snarled the kappa. "I gotta make nice to the future hot ladies of the world!"

"Makes you wanna reconsider having it cut, doesn't it, Pippi Longstockings?" snickered Ana.

"You and your crazy references again…" The kappa looked at her sourly.

"Pippi is a storybook character that's got two long red braids. Much like yours, in fact," Ana said, smirking. "Or is it the Wendy's fast food chain icon y'look like?" she wondered out loud, tapping a finger to her chin.

"Oi!"

"Keep it _down_ while we're _crammed_ in here, pea-brains!" Sanzo said suddenly, whipping out his fan to threaten the lot of them more effectively.

"But you yell way louder than we do!" protested Gojyo.

"Settle down yourself," Ana added sourly. "There's no harm as long as it doesn't come to blows and we can't in this little space." Sanzo shot her a look half-filled with annoyance and half-filled with impatience.

"…I'm sorry for the noise," apologized Hakkai.

"Don't worry about it. The kids make just as much noise…" waved off Yakumo. He looked at the group. "You all seem pretty chummy."

"I suppose so," agreed Hakkai before he added, "For the time being, anyway."

"To think that in times like these," smiled the youkai, "I'd find a pair of humans traveling with youkai. It threw me, I'll give ya that."

Hakkai gave him a long look before asking, "Yakumo-san?"

It took them a moment, but then they realized they heard footsteps outside, crunching the snow. The ikkou paused, listening.

"What was that?" murmured Gojyo.

"Everybody move to the back of the cave," ordered Yakumo as he pulled out a rifle from a high ledge far from children hands. He crouched as the ikkou and the children shifted back from the entrance. None too soon, it would seem as the leather that kept the cold out was slashed by something outside. The bits shifted open and in stepped three humans. The leader carried a hoe and behind him was one man carrying a pitchfork and another carrying a sickle.

"There you are, you miserable bastard," spat the man in the lead. "So you herded the youkai kids up here, did you?" When Yakumo didn't respond immediately, the man demanded again, "_Did_ you, Yakumo?!"

The look on Yakumo's face spoke loudly of his wariness as he shifted carefully.

"Those're humans!" Gojyo said, being slightly Captain Obvious.

"A group from the village at the foot of the mountain," informed Yakumo. "They're after us youkai."

"Of course we are," said one in the back. "You're disgusting, murderous monsters!"

"Leave us the hell alone!" said Yakumo, afraid for the kids' lives. "I never did anything to you. And since when did the _kids_ give you trouble?!"

"We're not talking about now—we're talking about the future," the man in the lead countered. "We can't sleep at night while you're living so close! What if you end up going berserk like the others and attacking the village tomorrow? You can't guarantee your sanity and you _know_ that!"

"Hey!" shouted Goku, angry that they were being so cold hearted. "Wait a second, man! What about Yakumo an' th' kids an' all _their_ problems? You're bein' friggin' selfish!"

The guy with the sickle snarled, "Are you even human? Stay out of this, outsider!"

"Sticking around leaves us no choice, Yakumo!" the leader continued. "We'll have to kill you!" At this, Yakumo leveled his rifle at them and the children cried out his name in fear as the murderous humans advanced on their guardian.

Things were quickly stifled, however, when Sanzo pushed down Yakumo's barrel, much to the demon's shock. "H-Hey," he protested, fearful that Sanzo had just sealed their fate.

However, the humans took a confused step back. "A priest… a human priest?" asked one, confused.

"What's a human doing with youkai?!" snarled another, angry that he wasn't understanding what was going on.

"Actually that's more than one human," Ana said just loud enough to be heard. They eyeballed her in shock as she grinned nervously.

"You're not wrong, you know," Sanzo said, diverting their attention back to him. "The youkai screwed you. You've got complaining rights." He took a drag of his cigarette before lowering it again. "Killing these guys is in the best interest of your safety." He ignored Goku's shocked protest even though it rung through the cave. "_However_," he continued. "Save for Yakumo, these youkai are just children. They're no different from the human ones in your village. If you can still murder them, even knowing that…" He looked at them with an angrily disgusted visage. "…_You're neither youkai nor human_."

Unnerved by the cold certainty in the priest's eyes, their willingness to attack in the light of what he had said and the truth in the words dropped down to the point they were unwilling to start it. "F-fine!" stuttered the one in the lead as they backed out. "But we can't live with you here, you know that!" As they turned their backs to leave, the leader shot off another remark over his shoulder. "Get moving! We won't be satisfied until you leave. And we'll be back, you can count on that!" And just before they left completely, Yakumo coming out of his shocked daze a bit at the fact Sanzo had defended them, the final words came from the leader, the words shaking with worry and fear. "W-we're just trying to survive. You of all people should understand that." And with that, they were gone.

There was a moment of silence that was soon interrupted by a soft patter of feet on the ground and Yakumo turned to intercept the young boy that had come forward. "Ryo!" he exclaimed in alarm. The others grown-ups looked to the youkai and the youkai child. "It's okay, Ryo! It's okay," soothed Yakumo. "Everything's gonna be fine, all right?" The calming words didn't do anything to calm Ryo's shivering and shaking form. Yakumo realized this and swore. "Dammit! Why won't they just leave us the hell alone?!" exclaimed the frightened youkai.

Hakkai, however, was observing Ryo. Something about the boy seemed different from before, though he couldn't rightly judge as he had only met him little under an hour ago.

"Goddammit!" grated out Yakumo.

* * *

The night passed, eventually, and the blizzard stilled. It was hard to settle down completely with all that had happened the day before. Ana had been curled up as tight as she could, staring at the crackling fire from her pallet when she somehow faded to sleep. It had scared her really bad, what had happened. Human prejudice was a hard thing to overcome. First impressions were lasting ones. And the youkai unintentionally showed their asses when they went berserk and the very humans the youkai once lived among would do anything to protect their lives… even if it meant slaughtering those who were their friends.

When Ana stirred, those thoughts drifting through her mind once again after she woke, she realized that not only had morning come, but somehow she had Sanzo spooned around her and his arm was trapping her to his chest. Not that she minded, but… she had to pee.

She glanced up at Yakumo, who had finished making breakfast and was waiting for the lot of them to stir. "Morning," he said, his smile a little fake, though there was a slight twinge of amusement in his eyes at the sight of her trapped next to the priest. When she didn't respond with anything more than a tint on her cheeks, he continued. "Who would have thought a Buddhist priest would fall for a girl?"

"Um… I'm not interested in the ins and outs of Sanzo's head right now. I need the little girl's room," she said blandly, lowly.

He chuckled again and nodded. "Once you get loose, there's an enclosure outside that we use as an outhouse. When it's a blizzard, we have to use a bucket in here, but the outhouse will be useable today. The blizzard seems to have stopped."

"Thanks," Ana said, trying to unhook Sanzo's arm from around her. All it did was make him cling to her tighter and bury his nose in the base of her neck. She growled softly at the fact all he was doing was working her up. And making it impossible to relieve her bladder. "Sanzo?" she asked over her shoulder.

"…Mm?" he mumbled, his low blood pressure affecting him to be generally unresponsive.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

"…Go."

"Not while you're pinning me down, I won't!" she hissed.

"…"

"Sanzo?"

"…"

"Looks like you're stuck, Ana-kun," Gojyo snickered after waking up and realizing that Ana was trapped.

"Come to offer yourself up as a replacement?" she asked sarcastically.

The look on Gojyo's face told her she wouldn't be receiving help from him. After that, the others slowly stirred as well and Ana realized that Sanzo seemed to be gaining consciousness.

"Sanzo, you need to let me go," she wheedled. There was a sudden loss of pressure on her side and absence of warmth at her back when Sanzo realized what exactly was happening and sat up abruptly, embarrassed but visibly annoyed. "Thank you." She scrambled to her feet and hot stepped… or rather cold stepped outside to the outhouse. She found it easily enough and relieved herself quickly. "Whew… Wasn't sure I could hold on much longer…" she muttered as she got herself back together and exited…

…To find a line of children and adults.

"Oh… sorry," she said, shuffling out of the way to give way for the little girl she had played with last night. She walked past Gojyo, who had let the little ones ahead of him, and he gave her a lecherous grin and a wink. Ana went flaming red and stormed past him, embarrassed completely for no apparent reason.

After breakfast, Goku went tromping in the snow and enjoying the fact he was making tracks. Ana bent forward and scooped up a handful of snow and compacted it in a wet ball, thankful the silk wraps were back on her, though she was once again wrapped in the cloak she had worn up the mountain.

"I can hardly believe there was a blizzard yesterday," commented Gojyo after having come back from the outhouse and eyeballing the sky above.

"Hold that thought," Yakumo said, also looking to the sky. "Judging from the sky, there'll be another blizzard tonight. Setting out now would be suicide."

There was a wet thunk on the side of Gojyo's head where a snowball had hit it and he yelped in shock, whirling to see Ana playing with a bunch of kids and seeming totally innocent.

"Really?" asked Goku, having missed the byplay somehow. "Even when it's this clear out?"

Hakkai, however, had noticed it and quietly ignored it. "He knows this mountain far better than we do, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt."

"We'd be no match for another blizzard," agreed Sanzo, exhaling a puff of smoke.

"Right," Yakumo said then. "So let's get to it."

Gojyo had frowned, and then been in the midst of scooping up his own handful of snow and compacting it carefully so that Ana-kun wouldn't see. Then he took careful aim and…

"Huh?" he asked, turning.

"Drop the snowball and start cutting wood. We'll need it tonight," Yakumo said. "There'll be enough time for playing with the kids." The snowball fell from Gojyo's hand and Ana watched Yakumo curiously.

* * *

Ten minutes later…

The sound of splitting wood and a thudding axe was what filled the air between Goku and Gojyo until Gojyo decided to talk while it seemed Goku was taking a break. "Hell," muttered the kappa, his voice carrying in the dead silence of the winter wonderland. "Tell me again why we're stuck chopping wood?" Goku strained to pull the axe out of the stump, but it wouldn't budge.

"Heh," snorted Yakumo in amusement as he walked by in the midst of his chores. "You need to work to eat, cowboy."

"Yeah, yeah," sighed Gojyo, not having had to work for his entire life.

"Crap!" exclaimed Goku, tugging harder now and rocking the stump. "Th' stupid thing's stuck!"

"Ease up over there," Yakumo said, dropping his burden. "There's a technique to it. Don't rely on brute strength." He worked it and the axe lifted free easily. "See?"

"Wow!" said an amazed monkey. "Yakumo, you're strong!"

"Swing the axe straight. You get me?"

"I got it, I got it! Lemme try again!"

"You'll never pull it off with your clumsy monkey ass," commented Gojyo as Ana walked up.

"Enthusiasm counts much more than witty remarks," she shot at the kappa, who just looked at her amused. "Hey, Yakumo-san," she said then, looking at the youkai. "We finished with moving the stuff from the storehouse. What do you want me and the kids to do next?"

Even as she said this, Goku challenged Gojyo to try cutting the firewood. Of course, Gojyo took him up on it and grabbed it from the monkey.

Away on a long cleaned of snow, Sanzo sat smoking. He muttered, "…Juveniles…" Hakkai, who was walking by with an armload of firewood that the guys had chopped paused for a moment to deliver a remark of utmost bluntness in his characteristic way.

"But it's better than being slackers!"

Yakumo set the lone female of the ikkou to help transport firewood to the stockpile in the cave. She grabbed an armload that she could easily carry and set off to do her work. It was chores and that was actually something she had missed here… which derived from having parents to tell you what to do. The youkai himself came over to Sanzo and spoke. "Yo," he said, garnering Sanzo's attention. "Um, sorry about yesterday."

"Whatever," grunted the priest. "It's not like I solved anything."

"I guess."

"You've already made an important point," continued Sanzo, the smoke coiling lazily around him. "Even if we find the cause of the Minus Wave… It's too late to return to an actual state of normalcy."

"Well, yeah," Yakumo said, looking at his glove covered hands. "But that doesn't make your journey a waste of time. I could turn berserk any minute—I know that. Lemme guess. It's the same for your friends, right?"

Sanzo stayed silent, a silent affirmation.

"Where does Ana-san figure into all of this? She doesn't fit any part of the equation but she accepts youkai with an ease not found in humans nowadays," asked Yakumo.

"She's from a place where demons don't exist. She's had to cope," he told the demon.

"She's certainly strong…" Yakumo paused, thinking about earlier in the morning. "What if she has to go home?"

"Then she'll no longer have to cope…"

In the middle of the clearing, everyone joined in together to play in the snow. Whoops and hollers were heard echoing throughout the woods, a sound of pure joy.

"…Did you ever think that she might have to cope with a greater loss than her family?" Yakumo asked after a moment's silence. He paused again, sensing that Sanzo didn't want to continue down this conversational path any further and immediately backed up. "Y'know… It's weird to think about this… Maybe I already did go crazy."

Sanzo looked at him, judging the statement and the youkai. However, any and all considering were shot down when a child cried out for Yakumo to come join the snowball fight the others were happily participating in. Yakumo stood and put his hands on his hips. "All right! Leave it to me!"

"Yay! Hurry, hurry!" And with that, the two went off to play.

Sanzo noticed that Ana had detangled herself from the fight and her cheeks were flushed. When the woman got closer, he realized that there was snow in her eyelashes and hair, in her cloak folds and… in her hands. She pelted him with the loose snowball, covering him with the cold wet substance. "Hey!" he growled before having to forget all thoughts of retribution as she followed up her snowball with a snow kiss.

"Okay, Mr. Grumpy, you got to sit out long enough. Plus that was a bit of payback for this morning. When the heck did you get me last night, anyway?" she asked, cocking her head. She knew he had low blood pressure in the mornings, which invariably led to him being a zombie when he first woke up, so she could dismiss that.

"You were shivering," he said, not realizing how cute he was being by trying to remain a hard ass around her and failing miserably while doing so. "Getting hypothermia would be a bother."

"For you or me?" she queried, perching herself right in his lap and looping her arms around his neck. Despite her skin being cold, her breath was quite warm. Goku happened to look over and realized what they were up to before looking away, knowing he could tease them later, and then caught sight of something that made his blood freeze metaphorically.

Stones of various sizes were planted in the ground and before each one of them was a single red flower that was withered in the cold. "…Huh?" he said. Yakumo saw them as well and he stilled. Like a ripple, the play stopped and when the sounds of amusement faded, Ana and Sanzo detangled themselves to see what was going on. "What are…?" Goku couldn't bring himself to ask what they were, but Yakumo answered anyway.

"They're graves." When questioning looks were directed his way, he looked at the ground. "Of the children who've died since we came here. This graveyard's why I don't want to leave."

One child approached a grave and put her tiny hand on the cold surface of the makeshift tombstone.

"Died? Were they sick or somethin'?" asked Goku.

"No," answered Yakumo. "They were killed."

"…By who?" asked Ana, having heard what was said. "The villagers?"

Yakumo looked at her and smiled an eerie smile that unsettled all of them.

* * *

When night fell, the snow started up again as they were eating dinner. Of course Goku and Hakkai went to gawk at the falling precipitation.

"Woow," commented Goku. "Ya weren't kiddin' about th' blizzard!"

"Mountain weather's really fickle," Hakkai said.

"Close the flap!" whined Ana, using her soup to warm her fingers. "You're letting winter in!"

"Don't worry, little lady," Yakumo grinned. "It'll clear up by morning. You can probably get to the village on the western side of the mountain if you leave before noon."

"Oh? We heard it'd take a week."

"The snows burning off slowly. It's getting easier to move through the mountains," explained Yakumo to Hakkai, who had spoken.

"Yakumo!" exclaimed one of the little girls. He turned as she came up to him, her little hands reaching out to him. "Yakumo, there's trouble!"

"What trouble?" asked the demon.

"Ryo's gone!"

"No way!" exclaimed Goku.

"You've gotta be kidding me—In this storm?" demanded Gojyo, shifting from his seat even as Goku did.

The little girl began to cry. "Ryo's been acting weird. Ever since the humans came… he's been creepy and kinda scary!" Yakumo froze as if realizing something. He stood abruptly and grabbed his rifle from its hiding place before moving to the door.

"Yakumo?" asked Goku, not getting the gun.

"I'm gonna go look for him," Yakumo said.

"Not by yourself!" protested Ana. "Let's go—"

"I'll be fine," Yakumo said, cutting her off.

"Yaku—" started Hakkai but was also brutally cut off when Yakumo shouted:

"_Just stay here!_"

He left, not stopping when Goku shouted after him "Hey!" When the flap fell back into place, the chimp said, "Jeez, what's wrong with _him_?"

Sanzo abruptly stood, eliciting a questioning "Sanzo?" from Hakkai.

"We're going," the priest said. "Something's not sitting right."

"What do you mean?" asked Ana.

"Besides Ryo?" asked Hakkai.

"Besides Ryo," affirmed Sanzo.

* * *

Minutes later had them slogging through the snow in their thin capes, trying to beat back the cold as best as possible. "Crap!" exclaimed Goku. "I can't see a thing out here!"

"Even just following footprints is proving difficult," Hakkai added, having to raise his voice over the wind.

"Hey, Sanzo! Aren't we lookin' for Ryo?" asked Goku of their 'fearless leader'. "Why're we followin' Yakumo's prints?!"

Sanzo didn't answer. His mind was busy shuffling the pieces together in his head, trying to come up with a answer to the problem before them. Yakumo wanting the humans to leave them alone, crying over Ryo's form that was still shivering.

"Sanzo!" pressed Goku, but still Sanzo didn't answer. Why on earth did Yakumo say it was possible for him to have already gone crazy? Unless… there was substance to the proposition.

His head jerked up when a crack filtered through the winds and the others paused in their tracks.

"Was that a gunshot?" asked Ana, unsure.

"It came from over there!" Goku said, immediately homing in on the sound's echoes.

A final thought of what Yakumo had said… the children had been killed… but who did it? Yakumo never answered.

As they burst into the clearing, they saw Yakumo standing over three still forms. Two were human… one was a child. The humans were torn apart. One was missing an arm, the other missing a leg. It reminded Ana of a dog mutilation. Her eyes trailed to the child and gasped, the sound lost to the wind.

The child was Ryo… and it quickly became apparent to all of them who had killed the children. Ryo had gone berserk on the humans… Yakumo made sure Ryo couldn't hurt any more humans ever again.

"…Yakumo?" asked Goku. Yakumo spoke then…

"…'It'll work out somehow.' Right," he said, his voice carrying to them in the suddenly windless world. "Maybe I'm the one who's been dreaming." He took up Ryo's little body and one tiny hand was covered in blood, mute evidence that he had indeed killed the men. "I really have no right to."

Hakkai, seeing the hand, gasped.

"Shit," Gojyo said, having the strong urge to vomit. "What'd you…"

"He killed them, didn't he?" Ana asked, tears chilling her face as her eyes remained wide and in shock.

"Hey!" exclaimed Goku, not getting it right away… or perhaps he didn't want to understand. "What's goin' on?!"

"I killed them," affirmed Yakumo, informing them that they had suspected right. "The kids that went berserk. Before they attacked humans. Over and over…" His voice was flat… and somehow broken. "…Over and over. I killed them all." He looked at his shoulder, his face surprisingly calm for what he had just done and had just admitted to. He turned on heel and began to walk back to the cave.

"…Wha? You're not…" Goku faltered. "You're kiddin', right?"

As Yakumo walked past them, Gojyo looked at the demon. "Hey. Where're you goin'?"

"Back," Yakumo said, carrying Ryo's body still. "One of the humans got away. He's not gonna let this go."

Yakumo disappeared into the snow fall and trees as the five looked at each other for a long while… Well, Ana wasn't looking. She was staring at the corpses of the humans that had sought to kill innocents, no matter what race… and had been killed by a child that had been driven insane.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she looked up to Sanzo. "Come on or you'll get left behind. I have a feeling this isn't over yet."

She nodded her head and they headed after Yakumo.

As they walked through the snow, Sanzo said to the others, "You know how paranoid those villagers are. Those murders are all the excuse they need."

Goku, walking in silence, had a dark look on his face. "Goku?" queried Hakkai, worried about the teen.

"I didn't… like it. That face Yakumo made. Why'd this have to happen?" The air was heavy with snow and silence for a moment. "He said he was dreamin'. But why?" His voice broke slightly and Ana came up to him to hold his hand. He gripped it gently so she wouldn't get hurt. "That's how things're _supposed_ to be! Why?!"

There was a long pause before anyone got the courage to speak. "…That's reality, Goku," Gojyo said as they came back into sight of the cave. They were greeted with the sight of Yakumo purposefully stalking down a fleeing human that was screaming in terror for his life. "No!" shouted the man. "H-help me!" Evidence that there had been bloodletting before they had gotten there stood out on Yakumo's padded vest in the form of blood. The man tripped and he spun even as he tried to get back up. "We didn't have a choice!" he begged, trying to reason for his life. "We didn't _want_ to but we didn't have a choice!" Ana moved forward, releasing Goku's hand, but Sanzo grabbed her and dragged her back. She looked at him with horrified eyes as she realized with growing certainty that the guys would do nothing to save that man for the atrocity he and whoever else lay in that cave dead had committed. "We had to kill them before they killed us! You were the only reason we couldn't live a peaceful—"

Reasoning, it seemed, was not a powerful enough weapon to save one's life for Yakumo grabbed his arm, spinning him so that his other clawed hand could gut the man and kill him instantly. Goku stood in shock as Yakumo slaughtered him.

The demon that had once been their friend… had become a monster.

And they watched as the 'monster' tore apart the man with vicious delight. But before he finished, Ana buried her head in Sanzo's side, praying she wouldn't have to see any more at all. Or hear. But the sound traveled through the air…

And by the time Yakumo was done, he was drenched in human blood. The berserked demon turned, licking a bit of blood from his red hands and Goku couldn't take it anymore.

"_Why'd this have to happen_?!" he roared in pain to the uncaring sky. Yakumo, sensing a threat and another set of kills, raced forward to the group and Goku, who was out front of the rest, got punched square in the jaw. It wasn't that Goku hadn't seen him coming. He just didn't know how to act. As Goku fell, he heard his friends call out his name, but he didn't hear them for a moment because as soon as he impacted the ground, his ears got filled with snow.

Yakumo, having bowled over the youngest male, turned and grabbed Gojyo, kneeing him in the gut. As soon as Gojyo was forced to draw a breath, Yakumo turned on Sanzo and Ana. They vaguely heard Goku give off a shout of worry and warning. Sanzo threw Ana down behind him, getting a yelp of shock for his actions, as he whipped out his gun. He cracked off a shot, getting Yakumo's shoulder though the bullet passed straight through muscle rather than bone. The demon clasped at the bloody wound, registering the pain that had been inflicted upon him.

"…Umo!" choked out Goku, trying to gain Yakumo's attention. He tried again. "_Yakumo_! Why're you doin' this?!"

Yakumo turned towards him, but the moment that took was all Gojyo and Hakkai needed to ready themselves between Goku and Yakumo to fight the berserked youkai. Ana, in the meantime, had struggled to her feet, but Sanzo made sure she stayed behind him and out of harm's way. Sanzo was concerned for her as she was shaking like a leaf. It could be from the cold or from something more. He had no clue. He had to stay focused on the fight.

Over with Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai, they were talking battle stratagems… or rather Goku was baffled why Hakkai and Gojyo were talking so calmly about the whole deal. Hakkai warned to keep away from close combat and Gojyo agreed. But just before they engaged, Goku grabbed the backs of the cloaks, gaining a startled glance from Hakkai.

"Goku?" asked Gojyo, not wasting words on barbs during this serious moment.

"I-I know," Goku said, struggling against tears. "I _know_, but… I wonder how he felt. Making graves for children… all by himself. He needs a grave. Who'll make his?" He held them for a moment longer and then released them.

Yakumo, who had stayed distant for a moment, seemed like he had heard what Goku had said, for running down his face… were tears… even as he roared and charged. And for their savior in the mountains… his end came swift.

"_Yakumo!"_

"_Let's have a snowball fight, Yakumo!"_

"_Sure… Just as soon as the snow stops, okay?"_

They found a spade and worked on digging a hole for the rest of the night. The hard, cold ground was difficult to dig a hole in, but they threw their backs into it, especially Goku as he was the most affected by this whole tragedy. Ana had stood mute as she went to go find stones. No one forced her to help them dig, as there were several times when they watched her place a rock at the cave entrance to seal it off like a tomb.

Finally, it was all done, both grave and tomb. And day was breaking over the eastern edge of the mountain.

"Let's go," Sanzo said, not speaking loud at all as the occasion was a somber one and he had no wish to disturb the dead.

"Mm… Sanzo?" asked Goku, still looking over Yakumo's grave and the graves of his children. The priest, who had begun to walk down the mountain, paused and looked back. "If I, um…" Goku faltered, but Sanzo didn't press him. "If I ever…" Nor did the others. He lost courage and tried to dismiss it. "Never mind. Just forget it." He turned and walked past Sanzo.

"I'd kill you," Sanzo told him, forcing Goku to look back at the priest. Sanzo said it to comfort the boy and tell the truth at the same time. If Goku ever lost himself totally to insanity, he would kill him. "I would," reaffirmed the priest, his face shadowed and the sun shining over his shoulder.

"…Okay," his charge said, relieved that if he were to fall, Sanzo would ensure that he would either come back or the priest would kill him.

Ten minutes later…

The crunch of snow was wet.

"Damn, my feet itch," bitched Gojyo.

"You got frostbite?" asked Hakkai.

"Don't you dare give it to me," Sanzo said, shifting away from the kappa.

"Um, Sanzo?" Ana said, regaining her voice as she had to tell him something. "Frostbite is not Athlete's Foot."

* * *

MANGA CHAPTERS COMPLETED:

_Volume 1: Act 2: Snow Drop 1_

_Volume 1: Act 3: Snow Drop 2_

* * *

MANGA CHAPTERS SKIPPED:

_Volume 1: Act 3.5: 3 Years Ago_


	4. Chapter III: Interlude I

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I know Santa will not be giving me the rights to Saiyuki this Christmas, so I'll have to settle for second best. Fanfiction. I do not own Saiyuki. I will never own Saiyuki. I do own Ana.

* * *

**Reviews:** Thanks to all those that have reviewed. DustBunnyQueen, Miorochi, White Fire Alchemist, cheeky half-demon, BadWolf-Phoenix, patriot16, beatit, bloodshadow, silver-eyed, AmY-DyLan-SoHiA-aNiKi, GundamGirlie456, Lady Nightlord, Wandering Hitokiri, BlueStocking, Demented Cloud, FcS, I-Eat-My-Vegetables, The Paranoia Kids, and Princesa de la Luna. I have to say, Princesa de la Luna, I've never received a longer review than you.

**Points of Interest:**

Clones: I've got a fair idea of what will happen. In fact, I've written most of it. Just have to finish it up.

Yakumo's Kids: I'm sorry to say, they have all died. That was why they sealed up the cave as a tomb.

Ana's Age: She turned eighteen not long after she came to Shangri-La. Now, it is a couple or three months until her birthday again. Her birthday is on January the twenty-seventh.

Goku & Gojyo: They love to fight. Boredom can factor in, but mostly they just enjoy doing the brotherly thing. And brothers fight. A lot. I sure as hell know sisters do. And sisters and brothers. So why not 'brothers'?

Gaiden: I am not sure if I will do that. Just that I'm not going to watch the anime at all and I have yet to read the manga. I've yet to _find_ the manga translated into English. Besides, I'm having brain strain enough over trying to do this story alone.

**What'd I'd really like!!!** I've been in serious need of some art. I can't draw worth a damn and I'd love pictures of the guys and Ana all together. You've all got ideas of how she looks with the Latino heritage, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and slightly taller than Goku (only by an inch and that's not including the hair!). I've been meaning to ask for some time but never got around to it until now. You guys can e-mail me the pictures (there is my e-mail on my profile). I will find a way to put them up here so that you may all enjoy.

* * *

**I APOLOGIZE! I APOLOGIZE! ****I'M SOOOOOO SOOOOORRRRRRIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!** This chapter is not as good as I wanted it to be. I will admit before-hand I fumbled the ball super bad. It picks up after a bit, I promise, with some humor and some goodness from between Ana and Hakkai. No luff-fluff between them. Oh, no! Sanzo would kill Hakkai! But there is humor due to the two. And there's a lot of movement in time. Again, many apologies not filling in all the nooks and crannies, but I just didn't have the imagination on this one.

Again, _**sorry for the lackluster chapter!!!!!**_

* * *

**Chapter III: Interlude I**

They had left the mountain over a week ago and for most of that week, Ana had been fairly quiet. She would speak when spoken to, but would rarely give more than one sentence at a time. It had shaken her badly… what had happened with Yakumo and his children. So normal and innocent one minute and the next… utter chaos.

The dawning of the tenth day had her back to normal, though, and she smiled at Hakkai when she passed him to do her business. It had understandably relieved him when she had done so, even though it seemed strained. It meant she had recovered somewhat.

During that day, she was far chattier than she had been and instantly Goku and Gojyo were all over her, trying to cheer her up further. They were delighted the old Ana was shining through again. Sanzo, on the other hand, did nothing more than the usual except when he brushed a thumb over her cheek. The simple gesture of affection was enough to elicit a thankful smile from her.

After the next day dawned, Ana pushed her experience into the memory closet and closed the door. She couldn't just yet lock it… so as a result, she knew she would remember something or other that would upset her though the pain would fade. It had happened many times before. What had gotten her so bad about it, though she couldn't admit it to the others, was that Yakumo looked a little like a scruffier version of Jake's dad… and Ryo looked quite a bit like a younger Jake only with pointy ears and nails. That was why it was so easy to fall in with them and interact with them.

And as she was thinking about Jake, a hand touched her shoulder. She turned to see Hakkai looking at her. He smiled softly, gently. "Hey," she smiled.

"And why are you out here? There's food in the inn you know," he said to her.

"Are you trying to turn me into Goku?" teased Ana. Hakkai couldn't help but laugh.

"No, no!" he chuckled. "Why are you…" He looked around the alley, his laughter fading. "…In the alley of all places?"

She nodded down to the other end, which opened out onto the next street. "Watching the people down there…" Ana then nodded to the street that she had been facing. "Watching the people moving up the street there."

"People watching, then?"

"Did it back home. There was a festival called the Renaissance Festival near a town called Magnolia and I'd always go and pay the ticket just to go and watch and listen and it was awesome."

"I hope I could see it sometime," Hakkai said, smiling at her own fond smile.

"Maybe you will. I don't know…"

"Don't be sad," he told her. "What happened is irreversible."

"What part of my life are you talking about?" Ana said bitterly.

"You're worrying Sanzo," Hakkai said softly. She had no reply to that. "You've drawn into yourself and though you act normal… you haven't been. You shouldn't shut him out."

There was a soft rumble overhead and she looked up reflexively so she didn't have to meet Hakkai's eyes. The sky was darkening slowly.

"Why are you doing this?" The words left her faster than she could stop them.

"I don't have the courage to make you angry so you can vent on me," Hakkai said to her. Ana's head snapped to look at him and he smiled a little sheepishly. "I don't…" He paused, unsure. "…And you helped me before. I wanted to help you."

"I'm not sure I want you to help…" Ana looked away as she said it.

"Then talk to Sanzo. He's allowed to help, right?"

"It's a little thing called pride," she admitted.

His hand gripped her shoulder again and then he left her be. Hakkai could not talk her into doing anything. She was stubborn. As stubborn as Sanzo, which is why they often butted heads as much as they kissed. The youkai knew that they had both the foundation of a very amazing relationship or a fairly abusive one. Which one they'd take was something of a mystery.

He walked back into the inn and mused quietly to himself on whether or not he should tell her about his upcoming birthday two weeks from now. The way she reacted when finding out Goku's on short notice was something he didn't want to repeat. And that was where he wondered if he should tell her or not. If he told her, she'd probably get him something via Sanzo's card. He honestly had nothing he wanted, though. So what if he didn't tell her? What would happen then? She'd be upset if she found out. After all, between him and Sanzo, she had been cared for.

Pushing all thoughts towards Ana aside for the time being, he focused on Goku, who was now whining to him about something Gojyo had done to him. And he focused on calming the situation.

Outside, Ana slid a hand through her hair. Absently, she noted that she needed to wash it as it felt a little oily. Her hair slid free of her fingers and fell around her face again. She sighed.

Hakkai had brought up a good point. Isolating herself was all well and good when she had no one that she could lean on. Now that she had Sanzo, she should confide in him.

But pride was the one thing that stuck in her craw. So much for being a good Christian as she couldn't humble herself to ask for help… She snorted derisively.

Considering her options, she knew what would be best. And now that she knew what she could do, her chest hurt… Crap… She'd better go humble herself fast or else she'd humiliate herself by crying like a fucking baby in front of a bunch of strangers and the guys.

Ana turned and darted into the inn, up the stairs, and into the room where Sanzo was currently sequestering himself with the current newspaper of the area. Before Sanzo could really register what was happening, he had had his newspaper shoved out of the way and Ana's arms around his neck. He realized after a moment she was soaking his robe with tears and saying over and over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" asked Sanzo, not understanding what the reason was for the tears.

"I'm sorry I shut you out!" she cried into his chest. His hand let go of the paper and he encircled her with his arms, pulling her close so that she could sob, releasing all the frustration she had kept bottled up for a while. He found that this was far better than the explosion she had had when her arm had been broken, but it was still very alarming.

A minute later, Goku and Gojyo burst into the room, having seen Ana go by in such a hurry. And they froze when they saw her crying on Sanzo. For a moment, Sanzo had a gentle look on his face – the kind that could be seen when he was asleep more often than when he was awake – and when he realized that they were there, erased the look to glare at them.

"Is she okay?" asked Goku. Hakkai came up behind them and saw that the young woman had finally let go.

"She's just been stressed, Goku," the green-eyed demon said, watching the younger one fidget.

Ana knew they were there, but her tears wouldn't stop. At least she wasn't wracked with sobs. As it was, she clung to Sanzo as if he were the last thing left on earth.

"Man…" grunted Gojyo. "Never did good with crying girls."

"Sorry," Ana said, twisting her head just enough so that it could project into the room.

"Nothin' to be sorry about," said the red-head before backing out of the room. He didn't do well with crying girls and this one didn't want him around. She wanted Sanzo instead of him. He could accept that. Hakkai was soon following after him, bringing a protesting and very worried Goku with him. Hakkai gently closed the door, but not before casting a long look at Sanzo. One that Sanzo interpreted as 'be kind and do your best to help her'.

When they were finally alone, Sanzo's eyes softened again. "Get up and get more comfortable," he said to her. Her fingers tightened for a brief moment before she shifted and slid down to rest in a kneeling position about thirty centimeters away from him, her eyes on the ground. "I said get up," he chided her. "Not fall on the floor."

She snorted in sour amusement as she looked up at him. Suddenly she blurted, "They looked like Jake and his dad." Sanzo's expression turned to one of confusion. "Scruffier versions, yeah… Youkai versions, I know. But they looked like Jacob and his dad."

"You mean Yakumo and one of the kids," Sanzo said in slow realization. Ana nodded.

"Him and Ryo," she told her boyfriend. "Jake's got hair just like Ryo had. And the same kind of face. I remember when the two of us would play all day at that age. Fairy tale type stuff. Army. Lost at sea. Indiana Jones. All we needed was a cardboard box pretty much. And the cat as the enemy." She snorted in amusement as she reminisced. "Though Bell Bell was hardly the type to stand up and act like a dragon or a Nazi. She'd flop over on her side and stare at us like… 'Are you nuts or something? What makes you think I'd degrade myself and play with you?'"

He felt a smile tug at his lips. It sounded something like a cat would say. And it gave him an insight into her life before she came into his. She spoke again and the smile left his lips as he heard what she said.

"It was hard when Bell Bell died. She got mauled by a dog down the street," whispered Ana, her eyes distant as she remembered. "I found her and I didn't realize it was her until I saw her collar." She bit her lip. "I screamed bloody murder and Tim found me screeching a bit of a ways from her body. He gagged and threw up just as Mom and Dad came, along with several neighbors and Jake. Mom picked up her body in an old rag and put it in a plastic bag. She couldn't let the trash just clean her up or have more dogs fighting over her corpse. We dug a grave and buried her in the back yard. We put a stone paver with her name painted on it over the grave. And Jake and I cried so much. It was like we had lost our keeper, our friend. And when I found out that Yakumo had been burying the children under those stones, and made the connection of his appearance and Ryo's appearance to those I loved… and then burying them… It brought back so much of that time during my childhood. Bits of it I had forgotten even."

She looked up at Sanzo, who looked at her. He remained silent for a long while and then gave her his hand. She took it in hers and he hauled her up. Now that she was standing, he was lower than her, and her legs tingled harshly from her crouched position.

And then he stood, making himself taller than her by a good bit, and proceeded to tuck her head under his chin and hug her close.

"Things happen for a reason," he told her. "Reasons we may not understand right then and there. Who knows if we'll ever understand them at all? Yakumo and Ryo are important to remember, not because of how they died but because of how they lived. Despite the fact they looked like those you know, they were not them. And remember, they still live in a respect that we do remember them."

"You are spouting so much bullshit, you've actually got me believing it," she laughed into his chest before hugging him around his middle.

"Good, because I don't want to have to spout this bullshit again," he told her a tad 'harshly', earning another laugh from her.

"Love you so much," she said to him.

"I know," he said after a moment, incapable of forming the words right then himself.

They stood like that for a while longer before letting go. It wasn't exactly the right time for them to start jumping each other's bones at the moment, though they were still incapable of bringing themselves to go that far.

The next morning came, bright and loud as the birds were singing in the tree just outside the window. Ana and Goku were almost in sync when they pulled their pillows over their heads from different parts of the room with equally almost in sync groans. Gojyo, who saw the display, grinned and decided it was time for them to wake up. Unfortunately, Sanzo and Hakkai were both out as Sanzo wanted a fresh paper and Hakkai had to shop. And Sanzo was apparently bored.

Gojyo decided to step over to Ana's bed first to rip the sheets off of her bed, which would cause any sane person to either shriek in shock, bolt upright, or curl up into the fetal position to fend off the cold. If they were less sane (say, if they were Goku) it would be easy to say that they would just lie there and still sleep. Which is why after a rude awakening on Ana's part, he'd shove Goku off the bed. Goku was a heavy sleeper, so therefore would be done second.

He carefully grabbed Ana's covers, made sure that his grip was good… and... A second later, the covers were on the floor, accompanied with a loud yelp. Ana's wild eyes fell on Gojyo after adjusting to the light. "You!" she snarled, rapidly waking up. He had the gall to grin. "Sonuvabitch!" she shrieked as she threw herself from the bed and Gojyo turned and ran from the raging mini thunder storm as light was arcing wildly down her form. The commotion woke Goku up even as Ana thundered after Gojyo with her bare feet pounding on the ground.

The kappa darted around the sharp corner and ran down the stairs, into the common room. He winced as there was a squeal of bare feet on waxed wood and a solid thump that came from upstairs. His thought of 'that had to hurt' was verified by a litany of swear words in three languages and a few unsteady footfalls.

"What did you do?" asked Hakkai with a sigh at the sound of the curses from the young woman upstairs, having just returned with Sanzo holding his brand new paper.

"They were sleeping in," offered Gojyo. "I had to wake them up." Sanzo gave a solid glare at the foolish half-youkai before going upstairs. "I don't think he appreciated my help."

"He was apparently not the only one," Hakkai said primly, walking past Gojyo. "And you'd best apologize before things get hard in the group, Gojyo."

"I will, just after she cools off."

"That, too, would probably be wise."

"Hey, Hakkai?"

"Yes?" queried the youkai.

"Did you tell her about your birthday?"

"I have nothing that I want or need, Gojyo. There's no need to inform her of it."

As the driver walked up the stairs, Gojyo hatched another plan under that mop of red hair. "Now there is," he said mischievously to himself and walked over to the nearest table to get himself started on the subject of breakfast.

Upstairs, Ana was being herded into the bedroom by Sanzo and was soon greeted by a befuddled Goku. After a while, Ana was bundled into the shower and Sanzo was ordering Goku to get dressed as Hakkai put the groceries onto the table, Hakuryuu fluttering off of his shoulder to settle on the back of the chair.

"Where's Ana-dono?" asked Hakkai.

"Shower," grouched Goku, still not quite awake.

"Are you okay, Goku?"

"M'fine," mumbled the monkey. "Breakfast…"

"Downstairs. I daresay that Gojyo is still down there, waiting until it is safe to go near Ana-dono again." As Goku groggily headed to the door, Hakkai called after him, "Remember we'll be leaving soon."

"Okay," replied the chimp as he left the room. It swung shut behind him and he started down the hall to the stairs.

Sanzo looked at the door to the bathroom.

"You haven't said much," commented Sanzo. The priest turned his head to gaze at Hakkai.

"They're not being completely obnoxious, so words have been reserved," he said blandly. Hakkai couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'll go mind those two." Hakkai turned and was soon matched by Sanzo. "I thought you'd be staying here?" he asked, surprised.

"I'm hungry and she's not an invalid," grunted Sanzo.

"Hmm…" mused the demon. "I cannot believe how much you've changed the moment you opened up your heart, Sanzo."

The priest gave him a look. "Excuse me?" he said flatly.

"You know what I mean. You care deeply for her and somehow show that without oppressing her. It's fairly unique of your personality, from what I can tell."

"Do not go 'Dr. Phil' on me," he grunted sourly, remembering a phrase that Ana had used once.

"Excuse me?" echoed Hakkai, confused.

"Some television show that apparently has a psychologist on it," the monk said blandly.

"Oh…"

* * *

It wasn't too long later that had the ikkou headed out of town. Ana had sat on the side nearest Sanzo, Goku was in the middle, and Gojyo was over next to Hakkai. Ana was majorly grumpy at Gojyo… make that majorly pissed, too… and she really didn't want to sit near enough to him for him to play yet another prank on her. She normally gave as good as she got, but this morning her ability for vengeance was impaired by the fact he had woken her and in a fit of rage, she had charged after him which resulted in her slamming square into a wall with her shoulder, hip, arm, and the corner of her head as she had not hit her side, but her front left. And as a result of the impact, she had been rather jarred. Hence the reason she hadn't quite gotten him back.

Gojyo, on the other hand, was plotting in his usual fiendish-yet-none-too-bright way. When would it be best to tell Ana? Hakkai's birthday was about two weeks away. More accurately, it was twelve days from now, if the inn's calendar was any indication.

He recognized the fact it would be dangerous to play a prank on Hakkai. But if he maneuvered it right, Ana-kun would have no chance to tell him who told her. Of course, if he could get Goku to tell her, then the blame would be off of him. Up until he thought of what would happen when Goku was questioned. He'd finger out Gojyo in a heartbeat. And both he and Goku would be in deep shit from the actual scariest of them all.

So, back to square one. Well, he already knew Sanzo would be no help…

Wait! He knew it! What if he went to her on the pretense of telling Ana about everyone's birthday, not just Hakkai's? That way, Ana wouldn't be so surprised when someone suddenly had a birthday and she wouldn't be so freaked out. And it would have the side benefit of her knowing when his birthday was. He already knew hers, so there was no problem, but she had to know Sanzo's too, yeah?

As he thought this plan out, he was staring out over the few farms before it turned into wild wilderness, Ana and Goku chattering beside him, Hakkai talking to Sanzo in the front seat.

For some reason, everything seemed unnaturally quiet.

And that set him on edge.

Of course, nothing could stay peaceful for long in their world. And never quiet for very long either.

Hakkai stepped (or was that stomped?) on the brakes, bringing them to a rapid stop. Everyone had released surprised and rather upset shouts at the sudden stop even as they regained their balance for the impending battle, for a small group of youkai had, naturally, just found them.

"It's the Sanzo gang!" crowed one of them, with a shaggy mane of blue-black hair and a seemingly permanent leer on his face. "Let's kill 'em!" An obvious leader, if his actions were any indication. Also a rather soon-to-be-dead one if the look on the Ikkou's faces were anything to go by.

Total of the group, there was fifteen. Three each. And that meant three deaths per Ikkou member. Sanzo got the honor of killing off the leader with one gunshot early on in the game. The corpse stood for a second, blood streaming from the hole between his once life-filled eyes and out the back of the fist sized hole came gray matter and blood. Not a pretty sight, truth be told. And after that moment had passed, he crumpled and hit the dirt, no longer capable of rising once again.

It set the others upon them, howling in rage. "Oh, great. Think we pissed them off?" asked Ana blandly as she created a full-blown fry-'em-all circuit in her body.

"Probably!" laughed Goku, shifting Nyoi-bo.

And then they set into it.

There were screams of pain, a couple on their side, mostly on the youkai's part. And everyone soon was piled back into the car, fifteen bleeding and/or fried corpses behind them. Everything was suddenly back as it was. There was an argument, a fight between the backseaters, a gunshot courtesy of Sanzo, settling down, and rinse… repeat.

* * *

That evening, when they stopped, Ana went to wash her hands in the creek about five meters away from the campsite. And Gojyo did the same. "Yo," he said, his usual grin in place.

Ana glanced up from the stream, her hands submerged. "Hey," she muttered before going back to washing her hands in the frigid water.

"I remember how you freaked when Goku's birthday came up without notice," he said with a remembering smirk.

"Yeah, why? Yours tomorrow or somethin'?"

"Nah. But Hakkai's is on the twenty-first." She started upright, her hands coming clean out of the water.

"It is?!" she said, astonished. Ana had thought that Hakkai would have told her. But it was so soon…

"Not so loud," he said softly. "He really didn't want to say, but I thought it'd be good to go ahead and get mine and Sanzo's out there, too, so you don't get surprised again… and you can maybe plan something naughty for dear ol' Sanzo-chan."

Ana turned a fetching shade of pink as said 'naughty' thoughts danced in her head. It didn't help when Gojyo chuckled and sent her from pink to red. "Gojyo!" she hissed.

"Aren't you just cute?" he asked her. "Anyways… Mine's on November ninth and Sanzo-_chan_'s is on November twenty-ninth."

She looked at him. "You're planning something."

"I wanna surprise Hakkai with you knowing something he wasn't planning on you knowing."

"Is that the honest truth?"

"Hey, it gets me the side benefit of getting a present for me, too. On Sanzo's dime, no less!"

"I don't believe you."

"C'mon… please?" Her look was still disbelieving. "Pretty please?"

"Fine…" she sighed. "Let's get back to camp." The kappa grinned at her and hooked an arm around her shoulders. "Whaaat?"

"Heh… Aren't you a cutie?"

"I hope you aren't trying to seduce Ana-dono, are you, Gojyo?" asked Hakkai, looking at the two of them, Ana's dusky tan skin darker than Gojyo's sun-induced color. Sanzo glowered at the kappa. "Well?" asked Hakkai.

"Do you think I'd actually be so suicidal as to take Sanzo's girl?"

"And since when was I a possession?" Ana asked dryly right as Goku shot out, "No, you're just suicidal by pissing Sanzo off!" He jeered at the older man. Ana flushed and grabbed at Gojyo's arm.

"Off, kappa!" she said, pushing off his arm. After she had gotten free, she slipped over next to Sanzo. "I'd prefer not to be in the middle of a squabble, thank you very much," she said. "At least not without me instigating it first," she muttered. Even as she spoke, she was thinking furiously. What would Hakkai want? Would there be anything he would need? After all, all their needs were met by Sanzo's gold card, which was probably what she'd have to borrow (this time up front rather than sneakily-like) in order to get the green-eyed driver something. A book? A new monocle? Well, probably not the monocle because it was likely prescription. And it was a horror to fashion conscious people everywhere, no matter how good it happened to look on him. He'd look better in a pair of titanium frames, slightly square-ish. He had the face for them. She shook her head away from those thoughts. Sanzo had the face for those frames he wears when he reads. Away from those thoughts!!!

What would he want? A book? That sounded so lame to her. No doubt it would be the very lame thing that would make Hakkai happy. Gah…

"What's got you thinking so hard?" asked Goku, poking her knee.

"Hey!" she squeaked, swatting his hand away, making him grin. "And it's none of your business!"

"Aww… why?" he whined.

"Cuz it's my deal and not yours!"

"Stop thinking so hard and have some dinner," Hakkai said, serving up some food onto a tin plate before handing it to her.

"Aww!" Goku said again. "Why does she get the first plate?!"

"Because, I believe the saying goes 'ladies first'," Hakkai chided, serving up more food and handing the second plate to the monkey before giving food to the other two.

Ana waited until Hakkai had served himself before beginning to eat.

"What was in the paper?" asked Hakkai of Sanzo, who had read it from cover to cover earlier but had not really spoken about what was within its flimsy sheets.

"The usual," grunted Sanzo. "Flimsy bureaucrats and political bleating. Youkai attacks and obituaries."

"How about a crossword and the comics?" asked Ana, a little cheekily so she could lighten the mood.

He just gave her a look. "Despite what you may think, crosswords are slightly impossible as we do not have your alphabet."

"So… the comics?"

"We've got those!" laughed Goku.

"Sucks you don't have the New York Times crossword. I sometimes went online to do that. I preferred the Houston Chronicle's crossword in the paper cuz I could work it out on the sides. And I loved reading about Charlie Brown and Garfield."

They stared at her for a long moment. "You're babbling again," Sanzo said flatly.

"Sor-ry," she huffed, stuffing a bite into her mouth a second later. She glanced at her boyfriend out of the corner of her eye and noted that he was slowly chewing through the meal Hakkai had made. Ana was glad that it hadn't been stew again. It always heated her up so much, especially during this warm weather. She chewed slowly before swallowing. Ana considered for a long moment asking Hakkai straight up what he wanted, but it came to her that Gojyo had intended for her to keep it a surprise up until it was the day.

Which sucked, because how often could she drag Gojyo off to the side to find out what Hakkai wanted? Once in a very long while. As she tucked away the last of her meal, she relinquished her tin plate to Hakkai and stood. Brushing off her ass and walking away, she knew Sanzo would soon be following her to talk privately with her among other things. She always appreciated these private moments between them, knowing that he was scared to show his true self in public or even before their friends.

She was lucky if they would touch semi-intimately before Hakkai, Goku, and Gojyo.

But all that aside.

She turned to look back at camp and as a result at Sanzo who had just come up behind her. "Hey…" she murmured.

"Hn," he said in response.

"You've been quiet lately. What's on your mind?" she asked him, stepping forward. His hands encircled her waist and she made no move to reject his touch.

"I'd rather not talk about it," he said bluntly, moving in to kiss her.

"Ah," she said, shifting back and refusing the kiss. "Not until you talk."

He looked at her slightly hurt and confused. "Why?"

"Relationships are one part fun, one part work, and one part love. You have to have lots and lots and lots of patience and elbow grease to deal with all three parts at once. Can't let the love slip, can't let the work slide, and can't let the fun get shoved to the back burner. So… talk, please." She grinned innocently up at him. He looked away.

"I've been thinking…" he said honestly, but not at all open.

"I knew that," she said gently, reaching up to stroke his cheek with her thumb. "But what's been tearing you up? You've always thought. What you're thinking now is messing with you…"

"…"

"Please?"

"I still don't understand why you care for me," he said obliquely.

"I've told you why a bunch of times." She gave him a crooked grin. "You're handsome, kind—" He snorted. "And very insecure, I've noticed," she said blandly. He gave her a sharp look. "I'm not talking about the day-to-day stuff, Sanzo, that you're insecure about. It's about your connection with people. You hold people at arm's length and it's rough on you and on them. Especially when you care for them and they care for you."

"I don't care about anyone."

"Liar. Otherwise you'd walk away from this entire journey and say 'fuck you, world'. You're still working on saving the world and protecting a bunch of unknown people."

"You tell me not to lie to myself."

"Uh, huh."

"You want me to be friendly to others."

"Uh, no." He looked at her with a critical eye. "Why make you change so much? The lying thing's a big thing. The nicey-nice thing would be creepy. You are a sweetheart and the fact you care communicates itself to the others. You are who you are. And I should stop being such an Oprah wannabe."

"Do I even want to know?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really because I don't like Oprah. Talk some for me. Tell me what you've got making a burr in your side."

He snorted in amusement. "You have some very strange phrases."

"It comes with being just north of the border and your mom being white," she snorted. "Talk, now…"

"I've never been good at talking…" When she didn't respond any further than looking at him expectantly, he continued. "Obviously you know that…" He sighed. "I'm no good for you but you still persist on being near me. I've got more blood on my hands than any human has in his or her body and I'll spill more."

"Pot and kettle."

"Stop saying that. It doesn't matter that you've killed because you had to or else you would die. I've killed even though I wasn't in danger."

"Was any one else in danger?" she queried, already knowing the truth.

He paused and changed the subject. "And it's only going to get worse the further we go. I'm worried that you'll die." She opened her mouth to protest and he cut her off, pulling away. "Everyone around me dies, Ana. That's just how it is. My master, the head of Kieun Temple… I don't want you added to that list." His voice was harsh as he spoke these words, rendering Ana silent for a long moment. But then she managed to gain her voice.

"Don't worry," she said softly, without sarcasm or humor. Her eyes were large and sad, gleaming as though she'd shed a few tears though she knew she wouldn't. Gripping her elbow, she said again, "Don't worry. I'll go home where youkai don't exist before they take my life. I won't leave you alone in that way."

He looked at her and she looked at him. Slowly, a smile crept onto her face. "Let's go back to the others," he murmured, feeling slightly relieved that he had talked about it. She nodded and flashed pearl white teeth at him, highlighted by the moon.

"Love you lots. Don't you get your boxers in a bunch trying to ensure every little detail, okay?"

He glared at her. "Do you have to ruin every single half-decent thing that comes out of your mouth with a snide remark?"

"Oh, how well you've come to know me!" she chirped. "Just like I've come to know you!"

He snorted as they left the private area for the campsite once again.

* * *

It was Hakkai's birthday in just two days. Ana had managed to find a three-book series that she thought Hakkai'd like, fiction with a touch of futuristic fantasy. She had also gotten a Sudoku book with a fun pencil with a bright yellow star-shaped eraser on the end. The shaft of the pencil was covered with multi-colored stars all the way down on a white background. And lastly she had gotten a cheap little pencil sharpener. Luckily, Sanzo had been a source of information as well as a willing source of the card. He had been surprised when she had asked him in the last town what exactly would Hakkai be interested in. When he had shrugged it off at first, she was rather annoyed. After all those years of having been with them, why didn't he know their tastes better? After a bit, he had offered up a nugget of information. What Hakkai would probably enjoy was actually what she had thought of. She had been told Hakkai had been interested in a book which had been second in a series that had come out right before they had left Chang-An to head west. Apparently the author had had enough time to publish a third while they had been on the move and apparently it was the last one. So she had bought all three in paperback. Luckily they were dirt cheap. As was the Sudoku book and pencil.

And she hid all purchases in her bag wrapped in the brown paper bag she had gotten them in and stuffed them under her underwear. There was no way Hakkai'd go into that bag without some major pushing. Hopefully it would be very much loved. Unfortunately, now she had ants in her pants for wanting to give it to him early.

Gojyo had kept her from giving in to her desire.

Goku had wanted to find out why she was so anxious.

And Hakkai was wondering why she seemed to glance at him every once in a while with more frequency the closer the day of his twenty-third birthday came. He approached Sanzo with his concern.

"Sanzo? Can I speak with you?" he asked, polite as usual.

Sanzo looked up over his glasses and grunted before turning back to his paper. "Sure," he said.

"Ana-dono has me worried. She seems…" He faltered. "Does she know it will be my birthday the day after tomorrow?"

"And if she does?" asked the priest.

"I hadn't wanted to worry her about it. There is nothing I really want or need." His shoulders sagged slightly, his frown present as he glanced at the floor. "She knows about my birthday, and she has gotten something for me, hasn't she?"

"Hn," grunted Sanzo.

"I should tell her to return it." Hakkai turned to leave, but Sanzo's sudden voice froze his hand on the door knob.

"We are several towns away from where she had discovered your birthday, Hakkai. I suggest you accept her present," Sanzo said softly. "Whether or not you like it is up to you." He glanced at Hakkai for a brief second and stayed focused on him as the youkai left the room, a silent air about him.

Hakkai walked down the stairs and discovered Ana with Goku and Gojyo chattering with some of the people in the common room of the inn. He thought about going over there and asking Ana if she had bought him something for his birthday and if she even knew of it, but he hesitated when he saw her laugh at something Goku had said. And he cast it aside. What was done was done, he supposed. But he wished she hadn't.

Sighing to himself, he went over to join them and was immediately brought into a chair to talk.

* * *

His birthday was here. He was twenty-four. Yesterday had been rough as there had been a battle with a large band of youkai and they all had a few large scratches. He couldn't even finish healing all of the wounds, so the bandages had to be broken out and hopefully he could finish healing them all today.

The birthday boy didn't have much chance to think on it as he opened his eyes to the vision of a brown paper bag sitting on the dash in front of him. On it were the words "Happy Birthday" and he knew immediately who it had come from. Ana.

He sighed, picking up the package, surprised by the weight. It had looked slightly bulky but he had assumed it would be some kind of box to fool him of its shape. Opening it, he discovered a pencil with stars all over it and a star-shaped eraser, a cheap pencil sharpener, and a book of Sudoku puzzles of varying difficulties. He lifted the objects out, curious as to what was beneath them and sucked in a small gasp. Somehow, she had gotten him the book he had enjoyed reading at Gojyo's before he had left on his journey and… the ones following it. The final one had come out? When? It was great that he had it. He had the feeling of eyes on him and looked to Sanzo, who was watching him out of the corner of his eye. But the priest wasn't the one whose eyes he had felt.

He looked over his shoulder and found that Ana had awoken and was watching him from her sleeping position on Gojyo's shoulder. She grinned.

"Ana-dono… you shouldn't have."

"I wouldn't have if several someones hadn't spoken up," she said softly. "Gojyo told me with ulterior motives so he could get something when his rolls around. And Sanzo had to tell me what you would like."

Hakkai looked in shock at the priest. He had _told_ Ana what to get? That was a shock in and of itself.

"She wouldn't leave me alone about it," the priest said sourly.

"Don't lie. I only had to ask you twice," Ana pouted. "Hakkai? Do you wanna let me fix breakfast for your birthday?"

"That would be wonderful, though you have done more than enough," Hakkai agreed.

After a few minutes, Ana had wriggled out of the back and helping Hakkai fix breakfast. Powdered eggs weren't exactly her favoritest thing but at least they tasted sorta like the real thing and didn't require refrigeration. The percolating coffee pot was heating with Sanzo's preferred beverage in the early morning hours. He was more awake than usual as he had been woken by Ana in order to place the present on the dash. She couldn't exactly get up at the time as Goku, the world's hardest sleeper, had slumped onto her slightly. And she would have to move too much otherwise to do it as she was scared of waking everyone up just to give him a present.

Even as they worked, the guys in the back began to stir. Hakkai left the food to the newest cook, her face scrunched up with concentration. Hakkai went to get some water to boil it clean for drinking uses as Gojyo and Goku stumbled off to relieve themselves. She watched the toast and looked at it often to see if it was burning in its pan. For some reason, Hakkai wanted a more western breakfast with bacon, eggs, and toast. She didn't know why, but at least it was semi-familiar.

"Stop screwing with it or it won't ever cook," Sanzo said blandly from his perch in the car for the time being. She huffed at him before looking over at the eggs to check them again. Pushing them around, she saw they were still a bit too runny and she wasn't one for gooey eggs. Unfortunately, no one ever told her to remove the eggs a little underdone or else they overcook and that powdered eggs cook differently than regular eggs, so when Hakkai returned, he came back to a mess and a very distraught Ana.

It didn't help that when he had gone to get water, he had slid on the bank of the stream, landing on one knee, coating the front of his shin and the top of his shoe. Consequently, he had had to get more water as he had soaked the ground in front of him, making the mud worse.

"What happened to you?" asked Goku, looking at him as they wound up coming back more or less together. Before Hakkai could answer, his attention shifted. "And what's that smell?"

Faintly, they could hear Ana swearing a blue streak in the air and came upon a very upsetting sight. The toast had burn in Ana's attempt to save the eggs and the eggs were a nasty over-cooked mess. The only thing semi-salvageable was the bacon and it had been crisped a little too much but apparently Ana had managed to get it off the fire and handed it over to, of all people, Sanzo to keep safe from the hungry flames that had apparently reduced the rest of the food to near-inedible proportions.

"Hakkai!" she yelped, seeing him. "I'm so sorry tha—" She froze before asking warily, "What happened?"

"It was a rather slippery bank," said an exasperated Hakkai, setting down the stainless collapsible water bucket nearby before trying to salvage the breakfast… by first removing the cooling slightly-burnt bacon and its pan from Sanzo's hands. He observed the ruins of the powdered eggs.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, looking up at him before looking down at the eggs in the pan that she held. "I didn't… I think I messed up because they were different from regular eggs. I know how to cook them. I guess I didn't know how to cook these."

"It's okay," he told her, gripping her shoulder before taking her pan as well and setting about making something that was a bit more edible. First, he dumped the contents of the pan out on the edge of the campsite, knowing that something would eat it, even if it was only insects. He added the burnt toast to it as well. The bacon he kept and went to Jeep to rummage about in the food packs. Soon, he was sorting out an easier breakfast as Goku was complaining a bit loudly about being hungry and Ana was looking remarkably shame-faced, muttering apologies as she sulked.

"Oh, Gojyo?" Hakkai said, with an eerie grin, remembering that Ana had said Gojyo had been the one to tell her what day his birthday was on. "You'll be helping me." The kappa eyeballed him and chose not to object. He knew that look was a scary one and one that he shouldn't refuse or else. And that was a big 'or else'.

"Uh… sure," he grunted.

What resulted were more powdered eggs, properly cooked this time. Gojyo had been told to clean the pans that had been messed up by the over-cooked wannabe-eggs. And the kappa complied quickly.

Soon, everything was taken care of and they were eating, even with diced tomatoes and some cilantro and onions on top of the eggs that had been bought special in the last town. They had to be eaten quickly or else they'd go bad almost as quick.

After all the dishes had been cleaned up, Ana apologized once again and Hakkai told her straight up to not worry about it. Accidents, as he was kind to tell her, happened and therefore it wasn't a big deal.

And soon afterwards, they had packed up yet again to go onwards to the west.

* * *

MANGA CHAPTERS COMPLETED:

_NONE_


	5. Chapter IV: Face to Face

**Author's Note:** *shuffles into view in sheepish manner* Hello, all. I'm sure quite a few of you are very aggravated at me. It has been a year and a half (roughly) since I have last updated this story. Unfortunately, the reason for this is because of several reasons. 'I've not been inspired' is actually the least of the excuses I have. First of all, you might remember that I was married. Things have fallen apart on me and I have filed for divorce just yesterday. He wasn't interested in me and I lost interest in trying to get him to love me. I know that you guys have been extraordinarily patient with me, and for that I am super grateful. To know I have a fan base that has been pushing me to move forward on this story even though I lost all hope on getting it finished has finally inspired me once more to work on it.

This chapter is old news for me and I have gone over it a few times as a result. I hope you find this to your satisfaction as I try to clamber back on my feet and press forward.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I have yet to own anything of Saiyuki beyond the volumes I have bought. Until that changes, I cannot claim any rights of this story except over Ana and the non-cannon pieces that I have constructed.

* * *

**Reviews:** I have gotten about 24 reviews to date on the previous chapter. I won't list out everyone, as I would like to get to writing rather than looking back over reviews once more. Just know that I am very happy you reviewed and very grateful. To think I have gotten 86 reviews total for this entire story so far is flooring.

* * *

**Chapter IV: Face to Face**

_Face to face_

_With the devil that you've been dreadin'  
Eye to eye_

_Finally has arrived  
But bad as it was,_

_Well now brother wasn't it better?  
Dealin' with him face to face  
'Cause it'll never go away  
Until the fear that you are runnin' from_

_Is finally embraced  
Face to face_

_Garth Brooks_

They were rudely halted on Hakkai's birthday by another band of youkai. Yet again, the youkai were defeated, but the conversation interim was something that one should note.

"So… what do you think?" Hakkai asked conversationally as he gazed at a youkai that was ready to pounce him.

"Think?" wondered Ana as she kicked a youkai solidly with her thick-soled boot.

"About what?" called Goku just beyond Sanzo as the priest shot his gun with his usual deadly accuracy.

"Our situation," the green-eyed youkai said as the youkai that he had gone into a bit of a staring contest with pounced. He flipped off a chi attack and the youkai lost a good piece of his body, falling dead, twitching as he went.

As more youkai attacked them, yelling their battle cries, Gojyo swung up the butt of Shakujou into the body of one idiot and the guy stumbled before collapsing in a heap nearby as he moved on to the next opponent. "Well, y'know," he said in a nonchalant manner. "People've got no morals these days."

"So it would seem," agreed Hakkai.

"It sucks that they had to attack on your birthday and all, Hakkai," Ana called as she somehow managed to avoid a demon's attacks and then grab his face, electricity coursing through her body and into his in a harsh, deadly current.

"Again, too true. But we can't seem to avoid these little soirées anymore." Another blast of chi. A few more gunshots.

"I'm so sick of th' stupid speech!" complained Goku as he went through his motions of smashing his staff into another youkai before whipping it around to crack it into another. "Th' 'Ooh, it's th' Sanzo party we've been searchin' for!' an' stuff." Unknown to him, a youkai came up behind him to attack him, but the attack was curtailed before he could even get hit. A bullet whizzed by his face, so close that he could feel the minor air movement from it even as he winced as Sanzo shot 'at him'.

"Until now, all the youkai claimed to be Gyumaoh's assassins," Sanzo offered to the conversation as he opened up the barrel of his gun, dumped out the spent casings, and began to reload. Snapping it back he took aim again. "Now, there's no difference. The small fry in the area come after us, too."

"Does that mean we're famous?" Ana asked.

"Practically celebrities," chuckled Hakkai, amused by the idea. "I suppose mass hatred is one of the many prices of widespread infamy."

After a bit more fighting, their enemies lay either dead, close to dead, or groaning and might get up later to go very far away from the youkai.

"There must be a wanted poster of us somewhere," Gojyo joked.

"I hope not," Hakkai said, turning to the half-youkai. "I look terrible in pictures."

"I don't know why," Ana said, putting her hands on her hips after examining her wraps to make sure there were no blood spots on them. "You should take good pictures. Maybe you don't have someone very good with a camera taking them?"

"I have no idea," Hakkai replied, looking at her with a cutely confused look.

"Man!" whined Goku, an annoyed look on his face as he shook his fists a little. "I got myself hungry for nothin'!"

"Since when do _you_ need a reason to get hungry?" Gojyo sniped in a good humored way, stuffing his own hands in his pockets.

"Let's get going," Sanzo said dryly, not really wanting to hang around the battleground, trying to figure out where the eyes he felt on them were. He had noted their presence for a while but he couldn't ever find the source.

And he was indeed right. There were eyes on them. In truth, a youkai had been trying to figure out the best way to attack them as he muttered to himself from atop a tall cliff, laying on his belly to peek over the edge. "The Sanzo party… Attacking them head-on is for idiots and superheroes. You have to use your head and _strategize_. Like I do. Heh heh."

* * *

In the next town, they had settled down in an inn, luckily avoiding any recognizing from the humans in the town. "We set out tomorrow morning, yes?" asked Hakkai as room service brought their meal. Ana sipped on the green tea that she had developed a curious taste for since that first night she had been served it back before she even knew Japanese or Chinese. "Gojyo, Goku… would you two help me carry groceries?" There was no actual question involved, so the guys agreed.

Sanzo, on the other hand, wasn't interested in helping, but he was interested in what Hakkai should do for him. "Hey," he grunted. "I'm out of cigarettes. Get me some."

"Nicotine fix getting hard to fix?" mused Ana, looking at him with some annoyance even as she put the tea mug down. She wasn't a smoker and didn't understand the allure of smoking like a chimney in Gojyo's case and almost like a chimney in Sanzo's case. The priest just 'hm'ed and sipped on his tea.

"Excuse me, _Lord Sanzo_," Gojyo said, indicating by his sarcasm that he wasn't going to be all that nice. "Why doesn't his majesty ever help carry groceries?"

"Why should I?" asked Sanzo, lowering the tea mug.

"Hakkai!" protested Gojyo. "Nothing good'll come of you spoiling that damn priest!"

"Now, now, Gojyo…" chided Hakkai. "Sanzo has his own responsibilities."

"What responsibilities leap to mind?" Ana said, slouching onto the table, resting her left arm on the table and wrapping the right arm up and around the back of her head as she twisted to look at him. "Other than the obvious of him being the beneficiary of all the money."

Hakkai grinned cheekily, in a manner far more 'real' than most of his grins as he held up his right index finger. "That is true, but also that a good boy should take care of the house while the grownups are away." Ana let out an undignified pig-like snort of laughter as Gojyo and Goku howled with their amusement.

"…Oy," protested Sanzo, glaring at the youkai.

"We're off, Sanzo," Hakkai said, having pocketed the gold card earlier much to his luck.

"Take care of th' house!" chirped Goku as Ana picked herself up.

"Like a good boy!" laughed Gojyo over his shoulder as they walked out the door.

"I'm coming with you guys," the young woman said, not wanting to stay in the same room as Sanzo until he stopped sulking. Not that a sulky Sanzo wasn't cute, but it would be better if she let him calm down.

Right as the door shut, Sanzo shouted, "_Drop dead!_"

When the priest didn't receive an answer, he snorted in disdain and listened to the sound of the breeze coming through the opened window. He pulled his reading glasses out of their case and slid them onto his nose before flipping open the paper. The pages rustled as he reached for his tea and he lifted it to his lips. As he sipped it, he realized that Gojyo had left his Hi-Lites on the table. As he had run out of cigarettes that morning, he had been on a nicotine low and decided that he needed a fix now. He popped one out, stuck it in his mouth, noting the flavor was slightly different than his Marlboro Reds. These weren't even 100s. He'd reserve judgment until… He lit up and took a drag. No… he did not like the taste, but his craving was pissing him off so he had to do something, whether or not he liked it or not. Taking another drag, he went back to reading.

Seconds slipped by as he read about the local politics. He had always found that reading up on the local news could help them keep an idea of the scale of youkai attacks and the progression of how badly the Minus Wave had affected the community. He took another drag and realized the ash had gotten too long on the stolen fag. Flicking it into the ashtray, he decided he was thirsty again and dropped the paper, transferring the cigarette to the other hand, to pick up the mug on the table. After finishing with his sip, he klunked it back onto the table and turned away to lift up the paper again. As he lifted it, a sharp gunshot split the air and the mug next to him shattered into dozens of tiny pieces.

He snapped around in shock and threw himself to the floor to clear himself away from the line of fire even as more shots peppered the contents of the table.

"What the hell?" swore Sanzo as he surveyed the damage and tried to gather his thoughts. The table and chairs were overturned in a desperate attempt to protect himself, the dishes shattered on the floor with the remaining bits of food all over the wooden boards.

'_Was it an enemy?'_ he wondered, readying his sidearm. _'I didn't sense a presence. And he's got a gun. Four… no, five shots. Maybe an entire round. Where's he stationed? He's either outside the window or…'_

A sudden sound from the hallway made him jerk around, nearly raising his gun in tense suspense before realizing it was some serving girl from downstairs. "Oh!" she cried, seeing a bit of the damage. "Um, I heard all this noise… Is everything okay in—"

Her query was cut short when he ordered out in panic, "Get down!" Bolting out of the room to the sound of more gunshots, he knocked her down to the floor, shoving her out of the way even as she screamed loudly in his ears. He heard a step and leveled his gun. What he saw next shocked him to the core… His own face…

* * *

Goku tensed slightly, sniffing the air and falling out of step with the others. Ana turned back in concern. "Goku? What's wrong?"

"…Wait a sec." A grin spread across his face as he bolted toward the smell, cradling the bag he carried. "I just smelled fried corn!" He ran past Gojyo who called out to Hakkai in a very bland tone, "Sensei, the hungry kid's leaving the group."

"I guess it can't be helped," sighed Hakkai.

"You mean him smelling food, him wanting food, or him chasing food?" laughed Ana, shifting her own bag.

"All of the above, actually."

"You wanna get somethin' to eat, then?" asked Gojyo, looking after where Goku was headed. "You know Sanzo's probably just sipping tea like an old man. I wouldn't mind getting home a little late."

"Sanzo's not an old man," pouted Ana. Gojyo just grinned at her.

"Perhaps you're right," laughed Hakkai due to their small altercation.

Goku darted back, waving a pointing finger wildly as he called, "Guys! Hurry up!" He turned to the vendor of the corn and said to him, "Mister, four of those! An' some of—"

Before he could finish it, a familiar sickle and chain zipped before his face, causing him to yelp out in shock and stumble back as the sickle imbedded itself into plaster wall nearby. "Wha?" squeaked out Ana even as Goku whirled on Gojyo.

"What's th' big idea, Gojyo? You almost cut off all our heads!"

Gojyo looked at him, the lack of his weapon evident. "…You are the densest creature ever." Even as the chain tensed and pulled the sickle out of the wall, they turned with the words coming from Goku's mouth failed him seconds later. "Then who just—"

Before them stood four individuals. Three men, one woman. All eerily mirroring their faces. And their old versions of clothing. And their identical cocky and confident expressions.

"Wow," commented Hakkai, very nervous about this new development in the fact that how often could one come across a whole group of doppelgangers at one time?

"Wh-wh-wha? Ah…" Ana's eyes, slightly bugged, stared at herself and mournfully noted that her highlights were indeed growing out and looked pretty bad.

"Meh? Gah? Buh?" were Goku's inarticulate utterings as he tried to comprehend another him. He was, after all, fairly unique.

"…Uh, yeah. I guess that makes… sense?" Gojyo tried to rationalize as his other self shifted a mirrored Shakujou, making him want to summon his weapon right then and there to see if his had been stolen by the other person.

* * *

Their grips were the same, their stances the same. Hell, even their _faces_ of all things were the same as well as the mode of dress and the damn sutra that the new person sported were the same. "What the… hell?" gasped Sanzo, rapidly processing the new information. This was the reason the gunshots were so freakishly accurate and why he couldn't sense an attacker. Why the hell would he try and sense himself? As the copy's finger tensed around the trigger, Sanzo threw himself and the woman out into the hallway. Two shots were cracked off and the woman trembled in Sanzo's instinctively protective grip.

"Good lord," she managed to gasp out. "What the heck is going on? Are you twins or something?" she cried out, confused.

That annoyed him as it was obvious he didn't know what the hell was going on, so why did she expect _him_ to give her an answer? "That's what I'd like to know," he muttered to her as he had not released her just yet. He thought rapidly. _'What's his next move?'_ Trying to think… like himself… Sanzo muttered to the servant girl, "…Hey."

"Oh," was the soft sound that came from her lips. Although he couldn't see it, she flushed slightly.

"Out of the way," he ordered, shoving her down the adjacent hall as she yelled in shock.

He stood fully and faced his opponent who stood in the doorway, looking like him for all he was worth. "Let's hear it," he spat. "Who the hell are you?"

"…Genjyo Sanzo," said the duplicate in his exact voice. "Who else?"

That wasn't what he wanted to hear. Tensing, he fired of shots just as his doppelganger did, diving around the corner just in time as his duplicate took cover in the room that had been destroyed. _'This is insane_,'thought Sanzo, trying to see where his opponent was, not wanting the option of getting snuck up on and shot.

* * *

Out in the street, people were realizing what was going on and wondered at the two sets of identical people. Goku was still busy trying to comprehend what exactly he was seeing. "Wha?" he yelped. "Who th' heck're _they_?"

"I'd think that was obvious. They're… _us_." Ana was equally befuddled.

"It seems that some fakes have arrived," mused Hakkai.

"…Damn," muttered Gojyo, the urge to make light of the situation coming to the fore. "But at least one thing's for certain. They're the best-looking studs and the hottest lady we've fought yet."

"At least _you_ seem unruffled by this turn of events."

"And I'm glad you find me nice looking, but do not mention it to Sanzo you seem to have the hots for me, okay?" snarked Ana, flattered as well as un-amused all at once.

"No hots, little sister," he laughed.

"Well," Goku said, even as his mirror self ran forward with a mirrored Nyoi-bo. "I dunno where they came from… but I don't think they're fans!" The copy slammed the end of Nyoi-bo into the ground, creating a decent sized crater that forced the quartet to shield their eyes and step back. Goku, the first to recover, shouted indignantly. "Hey! I can do that too, y'know!" He conjured his own Nyoi-bo.

"Now, now—don't instigate," Hakkai tried to calm him even as Gojyo engaged himself, two Shakujous clashing harshly against one another, shaft to shaft.

"Hey there, hottie. Who the hell are you?" demanded Gojyo.

His response? "Sha Gojyo."

"Yeah? At least your name is kick ass!" The other him vaulted over him, surprising the kappa, even as overhead, two monkeys met.

A little ways away, Ana eyeballed the other her as they circled each other, electricity crackling down their forms. "Who the fuck are you?" she demanded.

"Roxanna Sanchez," responded the other her.

"Oh, lovely. And how many Sanchezes out there have the first name of Roxanna? Prolly lots!" With that, she spun a high kick at her double and the girl ducked it though her hair hit Ana's leg and managed to get tangled in Ana's bootlaces. As Ana's foot hit the ground, her double jerked over in annoyance before she ripped the hair loose and swept her legs out under her. Ana hit the ground and rolled, unsheathing her knife. So far, all their electricity had done was spark and shock them as they touched, and Ana was glad her pain threshold went up since meeting the ikkou. Not to mention she was pretty much immune to electricity. Otherwise she might be howling with pain right about now. She wasn't really all that surprised when her duplicate unsheathed her knife as well. "I see we both want to play dirty, eh?" The duplicate didn't respond as she sliced the air that Ana was previously with the short blade even as Ana shifted back before slipping forward with a shallow diagonal upward stroke that was caught by the doppelganger's blade. "Just great," bemoaned the girl. "No quips."

Some distance away, the monkey and his double touched down, both focused on each other. They shifted to their feet and charged once again, swinging their staffs and identical battle cries. They clashed with a solid smack of wood on wood before shoving so harshly, both lost their footing and fell back. Goku landed on his ass and was immediately put out with the situation. "Aw, man! Who'da guessed they'd be so hard?" He stood again as Gojyo, during a break with his duplicate, yelled to the last male of their trio.

"Hakkai!" hollered the kappa. "Why can't—" He froze, Goku froze, and Ana was too busy trying to get away from her other self's electric attacks for a pause when the two saw Hakkai facing off with an equally silent doppelganger. The face off was probably the eeriest thing they had ever seen. Both kappa and monkey flinched at the surreal scene. _'Scary.'_

"It would seem… These are not simply look-alikes."

Ana got away from her face-off-ee and glanced around as she realized what they were talking about.

"Huh?" queried Goku intelligently.

Sweat from the tense moment of facing off with his other self slid down Hakkai's face. "Think for a moment," he said. "Their fighting patterns and abilities. They're almost exactly like ours, correct? Save for the lack of one-liners, these people are practically our clones."

"Oh, lovely. I don't need a brand new identical twin sister. I've been doing just find on my own," sniffed Ana.

"And how the hell do they expect to get the ladies without the witty commentary?" queried Gojyo. Suddenly Goku stiffened as a thought occurred to him.

"Ah! Wait a sec! If there's one for each of us… then there's gotta be a Sanzo!"

Ana whipped around. "A fake Sanzo?"

The thought that ran through the three men's minds was far from 'helpful' as they thought, _'We could kick the shit out of it!'_

"Sanzo's in trouble!" cried out Goku.

"It is a reason to worry," agreed Hakkai.

"We've gotta prioritize, right?" mused Gojyo.

"Let's save Sanzo!" Goku yelled enthusiastically even as Gojyo agreed with a "Yeah!"

"You just wanna beat up on his look-alike!" Ana said, bolting after them as they ran towards the inn, their purchases forgotten during the fight. Behind them, their look-alikes stood in shocked confusion before beginning to run after them, with a surprising leader in the form of Ana's doppelganger.

* * *

Back at the ranch… er… inn, Sanzo was smashed through the window of the room several doors down from the one they had been in, the previous occupants having left in a hurry when seeing the two identical men fighting. With minor lacerations on his arms and back from his impact, Sanzo stood and he leveled his gun right as the other Sanzo did the same. They stepped towards each other, firing two shots each as they did so and paused on the shooting, knowing that one pull could leave their opponent with enough time to fire similarly and both would die. And death would be imminent as both were aiming square between the other's eyes.

A sudden call of "Sanzo," distracted both for a half second and the copy dodged to the side just in time to only receive a graze from Sanzo's gun. He grunted, gripping the wound as he kneeled from the shock.

"What the hell?" Sanzo said, observing a quartet of people running up with an identical if not slightly differently garbed people right behind them.

"Yay!" hurrahed Goku, thrilled. "We were right—two Sanzos!"

"Oi! But which one's the real one?" Gojyo called in confusion. Immediately, it became clear which was which when Sanzo bit out:

"Hey! I'm busy here. Don't butt in where you're not wanted!"

"This one, certainly," mused Hakkai.

"Bad ass! This one's mine, suck—" A sudden hand on the back of his hair had him 'erk' out the last syllable… with an actual 'erk' as his head snapped back at an awkward angle. He snapped around to see Ana looking very put out with him and one wrapped hand still fisted around his red hair. "What's the big idea?" he snapped, embarrassed about the so un-cool move.

"You tell me!" she said nodding towards Sanzo, who had a very peculiar expression of annoyed and amused. Annoyed won.

"She's right. I'd never allow someone remotely looking like me lose a fight to the likes of you!" he snarled. "It wouldn't feel right."

Gojyo's hair was released by Ana and he was super upset he couldn't take a whack at the wannabe-Sanzo.

"Let's leave the joking at that, shall we?" Hakkai said, trying to defuse any tense situation sans the one with the doubles. "Our friends seem to be taking this quite seriously."

The copy Sanzo shifted to stand with the rest of the copy Ikkou.

"Hn," grunted Sanzo. "I don't like being jerked around."

"Let's clear up who's real and who's fake," Hakkai said dryly.

"Okay!" chirped Goku, ready to engage their foes. "Whoever doesn't die is real!"

"Ha ha!" crowed Gojyo. "_Now_ you're talkin' my language!"

And with that, they shot forward to attack the charging group. Staff and sickle met in a clash as real Goku met fake Gojyo. The real Gojyo took a swipe at a fake Ana as the small fake female deigned fit to electrocute him through Shakujou. He yelped even as the real Ana grabbed his staff and sucked the electricity into her own body, her hair fluffing as a result. "I'd suggest not screwing with me, Gojyo!" she told him cheerfully, even as her hair settled back slightly.

"Sure! Cuz you've got a damn mean grip." He fell back and was forced to dodge a mirrored Goku. Sanzo was busy trying to deal with his mirrored self as he was one of the few that could deal with gunshots with any accuracy.

During the altercation with Goku, he glanced over as a movement from Hakkai distracted him, but it was quickly proven that it was the mirrored Hakkai as a chi blast was shot at him, forcing the monkey to scramble out of the way of the beam of light. "Agh!" he yelped. Righting himself, he shouted indignantly, " Hey! Shootin' a chi blast's a dirty trick! It flies an' it's big an' stuff!"

"Er… I'm sorry?" the real Hakkai said, off put by the teen's comment.

On a separate front, Gojyo was fighting with a fake Goku. However, unlike with the real Goku, he was having to do it to survive rather than harass. Pressing his strength into an extended arm wrestling competition through Shakujou and a false Nyoi-bo, he spoke up. "If that's your logic, what about guns? Hard to get dirtier than that."

He lost his footing when he glimpsed Sanzo aim at him and fire off two rounds despite being engaged with his fake. "Gah!" he yelped as he fell out of the way. Shooting to his feet again, he heard the priest speak.

"Sorry. Mistook you for the fake." It was obvious it wasn't the truth and Gojyo called him on it.

"You are so full of shit!" Their conversation was cut short by an arc of electricity formed by the fake Ana. "Watch it!"

"I didn't do that!" squealed the real one as she swung at the fake girl, forcing the fake to dodge. "Besides, if you're slow enough to not dodge, then you deserved to get shocked!"

"Perhaps dispatching the clones was a strategy to turn us against each other," mused Hakkai as they took a moment to regroup.

Gojyo snorted his disbelief. "I doubt whoever did it planned that far ahead."

"Then we'll ask him," Sanzo said before raising his voice. "Hey! I know you're back there, you pathetic excuse for a sentient being." The figure that was ducked around a corner shifted his feet nervously at being ousted so quickly all considered. "Move your ass!"

The youkai stepped out, his confidence building. "Heh. So you're having fun, I take it?"

"A real blast," muttered Ana, but she wasn't heard.

"I made those clever little shikigami just for you."

"They are in wonderfully bad taste," chuckled Hakkai, still holding off his fake.

"I freakin' hate shikigami!" Goky shouted in annoyance. Their voiced shock made the youkai continue confidently.

"I've been studying you for months, you know. I finally finished my masterpieces just yesterday. Power, technique, speed—my copies are equal in all ways to the originals!" he crowed delightedly. "Even if you manage to survive, you'll endlessly struggle in a war of attrition."

"Ooh, big words from a small brain," snorted Ana, audibly. "Besides, I kinda doubt that."

"Eh?" paused the youkai, not quite understanding. A solid smash of Goku's staff, a lethal arm thrust from Hakkai, a slash from Gojyo, an overpowering bolt of energy sent through a stab from Ana's knife, and Sanzo sweeping the legs out from under his copy began to prove him how wrong he was. "Hey, hey, _hey_!" he shouted. "What's going on? You… You can't do that!" Sanzo cocked his gun and leveled it at his fake's prone form. "There's no possible way they could lose! I copied your previous battle patterns perfectly!"

"What's your point?" demanded Sanzo and pulled the trigger as Gojyo stabbed down as did Goku and Ana made a lateral cut across her fake's throat. Hakkai's fatal thrust had already started his to dissolving it to the components it had been made of. "Maybe you did copy us pretty good up 'til now. But think about it." The shikigami vanished as he spoke once again. "I'm not the same man I was yesterday, am I?" All that was left was discarded clothes.

"Argh!" groaned the demon in despair, his plan completely foiled. "You… That doesn't make any sense!"

"It's a question of attitude, really," Hakkai offered.

"So… whaddaya say about showing this guy what we're really like?" asked Ana, annoyed that they had been nearly bested by copies of themselves.

"Wha?" he gasped in surprise. "No! I didn't… I… uh…" He faltered as they closed in, his weak protests growing weaker every moment he spoke.

Afterwards, the quickly retrieved their supplies and got out of town before people started asking questions they didn't want to answer. Out on the road, they started to talk about it.

"Whew!" sighed Gojyo. "That was fun."

"Y'think?" Goku asked.

"As far as story material goes," joked Hakkai, "It seemed like your average filler."

"You referencing Saiyuki again?" asked Ana, quirking an eyebrow at the youkai even though he couldn't see it as his eyes were trained on the road. "I'd bet it is a couple chapters at least. That was too weird to pass on writing it all out."

"You sure?" laughed Hakkai. Then he grew serious. "I _had_ felt eyes on us recently," he said, glancing at Sanzo. "I suppose our little peeper was that youkai."

"Yeah," agreed Sanzo, still puzzling over the feeling of being watched… "Unless…" He wasn't too sure the watching had stopped, but he wasn't sure he should bring it up.

"Sanzo?" Hakkai asked, curious about the 'unless'.

"Hey! I just thought of somethin'," Goku said, perking up a bit. "Wouldn't it've been cool if we'd sent those copy guys west?"

There was a brief pause before Sanzo spoke to his charge. "Your brain is lagging behind reality."

"It've been even better if we'd kept around the fake Ana-kun for Sanzo-chan," tossed in Gojyo. "He'd probably would have enjoyed a threesome."

Ana lunged across Goku to attack Gojyo at the suggestion even as Sanzo growled and spun to aim his gun. "I do _not_ think it would be a good idea to continue that line of thought, Sha Gojyo," growled Ana, fisting his shirt as he managed to dodge the half-formed punch. "Because I do _not_ enjoy being referenced as nothing more than a sex object. I may have boobs and I may have a vagina, but that does not mean I will allow any male – you, Sanzo, or otherwise – to objectify me according to chauvinistic ideals and misogynist views. I'm not a brood cow, a whore, or a mindless tramp. I've never opened my legs to any male or female because it is something I'll give when I'm goddamn well ready. Do not suggest it again!"

Gojyo stared at her in shock, not daring to speak for a long moment. "I wasn't," he said, averting his eyes from smoldering ones. Rarely had she ever been seen with such anger. The others, save Hakkai, stared in shock. Sanzo's gun was not held as firmly as it might have otherwise been.

"I can accept being called stupid, idiot, little, and bitch. Just don't call me a whore or a cunt." She released his jacket and pushed herself back, saying an apology to Goku as she went.

"I'm sorry," Gojyo replied, not looking at anything.

She ruffled her hair and sighed. "Apology accepted," she told him. "Let's drop it."

As she said this, Sanzo managed to settle down in his seat. Hakkai shot him a very shocked sidelong glance. None of them had expected the outburst and Sanzo's own glance confirmed that.

They fell into uneasy silence for a long while after that.

* * *

Away from them, hiding in a tree, a youkai sat perched with a long pipe with winding smoke. "Oooh! So they noticed me, did they? I'm impressed," he chuckled to himself before settling back to watch them leave his range of view. He wasn't going to stop watching just because they had sensed him. They'd have to rout him before he stopped. Besides, if there were any other little fights like that left, he'd find other reasons for sticking around.

MANGA CHAPTERS COMPLETED:

_Volume 1: Act 4: Death Match_

_Volume 2: Act 5: Death Match – 2_


	6. Support the Petition! not a chapter

I have posted this as an update like many of my fanfiction writers. You, who read this story and have read my other fanfictions will know I have a tendency towards realistic gore , strong language, and occasionally explicit scenes. Therefore, I m also posting this to my fanfic.

Regrettably, I ve not posted for a long time and I m not sure when I ll post again other than this message. I haven t had time to, my life is busy... however, I fully encourage you to support this letter.

Linkage: www(dot)change(dot)org/petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net/  
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

I, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that (I believe) violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in it's original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be losing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

EDIT: Just made a forum on this to, should be on the profile, not sure if that will help.

Psudocode_Samurai Rocketman1728 dracohalo117 VFSNAKE Agato the Venom Host Jay Frost SamCrow Blood Brandy Dusk666 Hisea Ori The Dark Graven BlackRevenant Lord Orion Salazar Black Sakusha Saelbu Horocrux socras01 Kumo no Makoto Biskoff Korraganitar the NightShadow NightInk Lazruth ragnrock kyuubi SpiritWriterXXX Ace6151 FleeingReality Harufu Exiled crow Slifer1988 Dee Laynter Angeldoctor Final Black Getsuga ZamielRaizunto Fenris187 blood enraged arashiXnoXkami tstoldt Mystic 6 tailed Naruto ElementalMaster16 Dark Vizard447 Darth Void Sage of the Force Shiso no Kitsune The Sinful Kage640 Ihateheroes swords of twilight Kyuubi16 darthkamon narutodragon bunji the wolf Cjonwalrus Killjoy3000 blueexorist White Whiskey Ying the Nine Tail Fox Gin of the wicked smile tstoldt The wolf god Fenri JazzyJ09 sleepers4u The Unknown 007 Gallantmon228 MKTerra Gunbladez19 Forgottenkami RHatch89 SoulKingonCrack Dreadman75 Knives91 The Lemon Sage Dark Spidey VioletTragedies Eon The Cat of Shadows kazikamikaze24 animegamemaster6 LLOYDROCKS demented-squirrel swords of dawn The Immoral Flame blueexorist Challenger Shywhitefox drp83 Bethrezen Dragon6 bellxross unweymexicano The First Kitsukage kingdom219 brown phantom littleking9512 kurokamiDG Auumaan FrancineBlossom BDG420 Her Dark Poet bloodrosepsycho Shen an Calhar NarutoMasterSage4040 Masamune X23 Kuromoki Sliver Lynx devilzxknight86 Unis Crimson Zero X Limit reven228 JAKdaRIPPER Third Fang IRAssault Grumpywinter absolutezero001 Single Silver Eye animekingmike Daniel Lynx zerohour20xx Darth Drafter arturus Iseal Shisarakage Uzunaru999 Dark-Knight fearme80 Devilsummoner666 slicerness Toa Naruto Soleneus kagedoragon dansama92 KamenRiderNexus Captive Crimson KyuubiiLover27 MozillaEverer 4rm36uy ebm6969 Repiece phantomshadowdragon Colonel Eagle Timothy1988 ShadowZenith awsm125 The Purple Critic Darkepyon Zombyra brickster409 ChaosSonic1 Leaf Ranger SoulEmbrace2010 Oni Shin Silverknight17 Specter637 HunterBerserkerWolf shadow-red0 The Roaming Shadow bucketbot AvalonNakamura Avacii Maxwell Gray Silvdra-zero Arashi walker Lord of Daemons Lord Anime CloudRed1988 forestscout The Lost Mana Red Warrior of Light TUAOA MORRISTOFOX Mr. Alaska Swagnilla-Ice-1985 MugetsuIchigo bloodlust002 Nerverean Kage Biju JK10 OBSERVER01 MistressWinowyll Count Kulalu ronin504 ted009 Ralmidaz lederra Lost my shoe in Sheol ToyHaunter Hiyami PuckReathof demonsinger konomu-Imout LOVEMANGA AND DRARRY yuseiko-chan Elvira-baba Icecce iampieman Ultimabloodblade Gintoki kumar9900 DemonAngel of Ice dragon-cloud16 Harute Haptism the green ace of clubs Assassin King of Masyaf Flame-Fist-Ace Lucifer's Remnants Story Reader 97 kniznik NARUHAREM FOREVA NHunter Angry Hamster Kouken Tenshi Yume Saint-Clair Oo-chan jojo(non inscrit)  
gaia (pas inscrit)  
Estelle Uzumaki Melana76 onarluca Xanara odvie archiemouse Fenrir the vicious taj14 c i am a dragon God Emperor Of GAR-halla Warrior of Olympus Xxfreefallangelxx BituMAN shadowcub acepro Evolution ScorpinokXV Hunter200007 kyo anime Nysk Killeraction49 Storylover213 arya19 irvanthedamned Kiranos KingKidBadAss nimb09 Paladeus Orange-Fuzz-Ball Kakkyou no Yami Burning Truth DrunkManSquakin cabel1972 dynomike88 Tolotos Hansi Rahl Rekmond Farmer Kyle You-Lack-BadAssery Silverscale Cloud75JC GunnerRyuu Kurogane7 Raja-Ulat DragonMasterFlex Saphire Quill shadowzefover5 Highvalour Rinoti 2ndsly guardianmaster4 Godlykiller2 munesanzune DarkghostX w1p Lord Arkan Xahn777 T3Ko Dragon Man 180 Alia-Jevs Fayneir Ookami Ousama Asdfth12 Burning Lights EternalBlizzardOfSwords66 eltigre221 Jarjaxle HinaGuy749 Great Vampire-Shinso Harute Haptism Oxyxoon high lord mage FatalCrimsonScion Starfire99 Doombreed AdamantiumTP NightInk Wrathkal Firedamaged God Emperor of GAR-halla xArtehx Kapola Nuva HunterAzrael anime-death-angel sabery Bahamutzero94 Soul Painted Black Infinite Freedome Rodneysao Shatsuka jm1681 Ookami88 Akira Strider empresskitsune KitsuneGirl021 KagomeGirl021 Joey Blaq Nex Caedes Billy Buyo lite spirit CelticReaper fullhouses Felur TitaniumWyvern NeonZangetsu LargerSnowdevil I'm Yu Define Incompetent Caw-Raven BackwardsHazard lord Martiya Umashido pokemoncosmoking sjghostwriter18 scout360pyro taintedloki MtSarx kumar9900 TehIrishBrony Uzumaki Crossover Etsukazu no Kitsune Ranger-kit rts515 Soulblazer87 Kamigawa Nagamaki F Archer us4gi-ch4n Shirabaka Tenji Spear-of-the-doomed Painsake Ben1987 Spartan Ninja dante5986 Victoriousvillian Sage of Eyes Boomerbambam YosoNoAkuma Megaman88 Angry Hamster Warden of the Runes Kiyoi Silverstonedragon Akane Mosoa Cryofthewolf Culebra del Sol HouseMD93 Doc. K-9 dracon867 Moka Mcdowell VGZ Oirarana Nightmares Around Winter chuck17 Son Of A Wolf Daniel Lynx Sibjisibdi sleepwhenyourdead1989 BackwardsHazard Hunter200007 Zagger the Bloody Angel Zen Rinnegan Duochanfan alice the noble Zagger the Bloody Angel BRD man nano101 ShotgunWilly EternalKnight219 deadak Idiote AkumaKami64 loki0191 konoha's Nightmare zrodethwing ursineus KamenRiderNexus neko-hikage-chan Project Slepnir Narora Senoku spider79 ZloGlaZ Erebus of the Banat belnonm Tristan Blackheart Xefix dbzsotrum9 Nanna00 kired-reader Kingswriter hollyshortfowl ChaosRaptorEye The Infamous Man Vampchick2010 THE Dark Dragen 26-Lord-Pain Vail Ryuketsu darkmatter13 forbiddenfruitunloved lostandthedamned EmperialGem21 Chiyo Asakura SnakeHead85 Zediir OccultAura ZeroZangetsu will1by2 Taullinis dregus rst64lc Leaf Ranger Meowpuppy Sage of Oblivion Iopno Grz Silvercrystal. ct MercuryDawn mamoru3193 BeastWithin gunman 2ndsly biggbull2 iron elsar andlaissam kayra isis lycanoda Kenpach17 DarkYami Motou Manga154 Marionnette0116 Phoenix182 catsfissh sambit Talonspike Ten Commandments dagoredhel pac628 Black Volcaona bloody wolf26 shizuma12 Isom Dark Dragen The Goddess of Darkness Magic IS WHAT Minako Uzumaki River Nailo-Chaos Kira Kyuu johnny89644 Rune Dela Vega jsprx End of an Era Senjuto Kenesu Deltablacknaruto Baka Ecchi Kon WhoKnewIWouldWrite Deathwatch Razgriz 11martin ryanshadow19 TheDemonfoxHiddenWithin Ayame0217 harry1817 Blade1986 ZariGS heavenzhell TheSutoikku Fayneir Dragon Wizard 91 Final Cyn shadowaseno infinite-yami TheSilentJackofallTrades Dark Dragon of Amaterasu notgonnasay09 m6l99 the second RX78-3 The-Eighth-Sin Kelligor Sunny Lighter Kingswriter Fuyutaro son Anke14 djjaca Shawis Relzair KitsuneDragon HiroJiyuNaka MasterZelva Irishfighter 7 Winds Arsenic Snowflake K.S.T.M RudyCrims Train1 KitsuneMaelstrom21 Keiko Mineko Snipa Shiek927 Evil Long Penname Having Individual End Gaia-GoddessofEarth Marjo76 GreenRena midnight-raven-wing Mikhail Inspired solitare rajvir CloeyMarie The Madness Of My Life raw666 Karryn leighann101 Naruto-lost-deathnote ParanoidSchizo91 kanshisha kitsune germanyswarrior askas30 kami no Kage ssjgokillo SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan NoLifeKing666 santanaann doom13 Burning Shadow Wolf Hawner just-alive 1sunfun thekiler00 Shinryu the Eternal Storm God kyuubinaruto634 Sportsman OoOXylionOoO Kotias StormxD95 demonkira Rydyian Gunn the Journeyman Konerok Hadorak StarGazingAtMidnight FlameDragon14 Woodsymoments my-dear-fangirl LoverofLemon irenia OutlawJustice alkkhes Kingkakashi ob niixillis Animefangirl95 dark-phantom-dragon Piacine Pharos nous Seta Vincent Avalon Slayer End tenrou29 Villain84 Beta 01 Valdimarian TheLastTest Phoenix-Amazone Liarana philae89 JTFLAM zaika Blackmoony83 Skoliro sakura-okasan Tsuh Cyntalan Kael Hyun ChaosRune stoddapb Botosai2001 Kouka no Ryuu Firestorm2004 Dericof Diname Little Morgsi Kuro Chidori Death123123 lou2003us Gohan Zero zxasxc RANMACAT Faded Flight Akuma-Heika Dr. Blue22 ultima-owner Khait Khepri


End file.
